IG Fic Series 2013 Book 1 : Heart of Steel
by Aline Riva
Summary: Ten years after Gadget defeated Claw, he's back with a weapon to destroy the cybernetics industry. Gadget is the first victim of the weapon, suffering terrible injuries that destroy his human heart. But with support from Penny, his new love Bess and friend Taylor Braydon, Gadget sets out to defeat Claw, who now has the power to destroy all cyborg life at the touch of a button...
1. Chapter 1

**Heart of Steel**

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**Note from the Author:**

**Yes, I decided to write another *SERIES* of IG novels. **

**It will be a set of TEN IG fan fic novels.**

**Please note, although this story does feature the character (my OC) Taylor Braydon, this is *NOT* linked to the ****OTHER**** five book series. **

**This is a is the start of a brand new series of IG novels, and I decided to bring in a popular character from the previous 5 book series, but this story is the start of a brand new series of Inspector Gadget novels.**

**So this book and the ones that follow on will be unrelated to others I have written.**

**Readers of my previous five book series of novels will recognise the same Riverton as laid out in those books – but this story is set in a slightly different universe and the characters and storyline are very different – because this is the start of a new set of books.. **

**And as usual, I have set this novel after the end of IG2. But there is one difference in this story – I'm writing the version of Claw from IG1, because I've never written that version of Claw before, and he seemed to fit well with the plot for this story.**

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**And a word of Thanks**

**And I'd like to say thank you to Bookworm Gal, a great writer – who came up with an idea for a weapon I had not thought of – very useful to me when I was needing one for my new villain! Thank you for being so generous with your ideas, those ideas sparked me off to write this book because the plot just grew around it – and kept on growing. Your input has been invaluable, and now this book shall have a sequel and will turn into another series of IG novels from me :-)**

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**Plot Summary:**

**Ten years have passed by since Inspector Gadget's last battle with Claw. Riverton is a peaceful town – and known as the one of the biggest and best centers of excellence when it comes to cyborg design, technology and research. Gadget is still Riverton's crime fighting hero, a man respected for defeating Claw and looked on as something of a celebrity because of his reputation as a local hero, and the fact that he is also known as the first ever cyborg. But Riverton is a town about to be targeted by a new weapon – a weapon so devastating that it is capable of killing all electrical function – including vital, life-saving cyborg technology – in an instant, and that weapon is under the control of Marcia Glass of Glass Co, a company that, on the surface, appear to be dedicated to developing hi-tech scanning equipment for the military. But Glass Co has a hidden agenda - Marcia Glass is working with Claw, their alliance is dedicated to a single cause:**

_**They plan to use small devices that give off a powerful non-nuclear electro magnetic pulse - a silent device that is capable of great destruction, a weapon that is both deadly and invisible...**_

**Claw's plan is to use his new weapon to show its destructive capabilities, and then hold the world's cyborg development companies to ransom, halting the growth in the cybernetics business, which has now turned into a life saving industry, since cybernetic technology was first used a decade before to save the life of Inspector Gadget. And purely out of desire for revenge, Claw decides Gadget should be his first, high-profile target.**

**When Mayor Wilson's party is interrupted at first no one suspects an organised attack as the lights go out, because the effect of the pulse is so shattering that Gadget's cyborg body is left with devastating damage, life threatening injuries so severe that he only survives because he is partly human - his cyborg body faces massive repairs. But the worst outcome of this attack is the fact that Dr Bradford and her new assisting cybernetic surgeon Bess Nightingale are forced to remove Gadget's damaged human heart in order to save his life, replacing it with a mechanical device made by Braydon Industries – and Taylor Braydon, the billionaire owner of the cybernetic research company, is only too happy to help Gadget with all the replacement parts he needs – including designing a shield system to protect him from further attack.**

**But Gadget is shattered at the loss of his human heart, and faces a difficult recovery from his injuries.**

**Penny is equally devastated to think her Uncle has suffered so greatly, and against the advice of Chief Quimby, goes off in search of the culprit - unaware that Quimby has already received a phone call from Claw threatening the cyborg industries of the world with blackmail, and Quimby decided not to make this public knowledge, because knowing Claw was back while Gadget was too injured to take him on would surely cause mass panic in the streets of Riverton...**

**As Gadget recovers he grows closer to Bess Nightingale, although he doubts they can ever be more than friends because his body is seventy percent cyborg, although Bess does not see this as an obstacle. As Gadget begins to heal, Bess helps him to find his strength to face his old enemy. But Penny walks into danger and then Gadget must save her and track down Claw and stop him, before his alliance with Marcia Glass brings the cybernetic world to its knees...**

_**Inspector Gadget must once again battle Claw to save the life of his niece - and the lives of every cyborg on the planet, because Claw holds in his possession the means to destroy all cyborg life at the push of a button, unless Gadget can stop him in time...**_

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**Rated T**

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**Disclaimer: ****I own nothing, this a work of fan fiction.**

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**Warnings:**** None really, other than to say this story contains some adult scenes and discussions, some violence. Also deals with heavily emotional storylines.**

**I just added that for anyone who has not read an IG fic by me before. For everyone else who knows my 5 novel IG series: You know what to expect – enjoy the rollercoaster! ~Aline Riva ~**

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Chapter 1

It was a bright spring morning in Riverton. The sun was shining in a cloudless sky and Inspector Gadget was driving down the long, straight road that led to Riverton Town. As he drove along, he glanced at the fields and the approaching sign that said _Welcome to Riverton._ That sign had changed a lot over the past ten years; now it was a huge billboard that showed Mayor Wilson in a dark blue cocktail dress, smiling as her cleavage thrust upwards and the hem of her flared skirt skimmed her thighs.

As he passed the sign, Gadget shook his head: some things never changed...

"What are you looking so happy about, G Man?" asked the Gadget Mobile.

Gadget glanced down at the computerized face on the screen.

"I was just thinking about this party at the Mayor's house tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to it."

"Looking forward to spending the evening kissing the ass of –"

Gadget laughed and gently gripped the wheel as he checked the road and then looked back down at the screen.

"I wasn't planning on kissing _any_ part of her! She gave up on trying her luck with me a long time ago!"

"Around the time she found out you're seventy per cent machine?" the car wondered.

Gadget flinched a little, not wanting to think about how much of his own body had been lost in the explosion that had led to him becoming Gadget the crime fighter.

"I'll forget you said that, Gadget Mobile. I'm looking forward to the party because a lot of people will be there who I'd like to catch u with."

"You and Brenda Bradford were over years ago!" the car exclaimed, "You never got farther than a kiss and then suddenly she wasn't around any more. "

Gadget's grip on the wheel tightened.

"It was too soon after...well, let's just say I wasn't used to being a cyborg back then. I wasn't ready for a relationship...and how would _you_ know how far we went?"

Gadget was watching the road now.

The computerized face on the screen did a flip and looked up at him.

"So... what went wrong with you and G2? She was a robot –"

Gadget was gripping the wheel harder now as he looked down sharply at the screen.

"Me and her are nothing to do with you – we had a thing together once, but it didn't last."

"Why not?"

Gadget fixed his gaze on the road, not wanting to go into a deep explanation with his car about why he had broken up with an android because he wanted a human relationship – with an all-human, soft, warm female of flesh and blood, who he hoped would make him forget that more than half his body was machine...but it hadn't worked out that way. Gadget was still single and far lonelier than he cared to admit.

"She's not around any more because when we broke up she put in for a transfer to another police department. And I don't want to talk about this any more. It was a long time ago - Penny was still in high school!"

The car said no more and Gadget kept his gaze on the road; the cars remarks had stirred up many old memories. It had been ten years since Claw had flown off in his rocket, making a fast get away as he yelled out_, "I'll get you next time Gadget!"_

Claw had never been seen or heard of again, and Riverton had gone back to being a peaceful, crime-free town and once again Gadget had been hailed as a hero.

He still enjoyed that status, along with the fact that he was the first cyborg the prototype, added up to the fact that to the people of Riverton, he was considered something of a celebrity. Gadget had always liked to live quietly, but that had been possible after becoming Inspector Gadget. His quiet life as John Brown, a security guard who dreamed of being a cop, were over.

Gadget had learned to enjoy his new-found status in life, just as he had accepted everything else – because to look back with regret would lead to opening up old wounds, the scars that remained in his mind, scars he never wanted to disturb because he was sure if he dwelt too long n the thought that more than half his human body was gone, he would most likely weep over it forever.

But Gadget wasn't the kind of man to look back – Penny was a young woman now in her twenties, a happy young woman who he had raised and every time he looked at her he felt such pride to think he had taken his broken little niece, that frightened girl who had lost her parents so tragically, and turned her life around for her. When he thought about the woman she had become, the happy person she was now, it almost cancelled out all thoughts of sorrow that he felt at the thought that the explosion had robbed him of the chance of ever having a family of his own.

Gadget pulled out of his thoughts and looked down at the computerized screen.

"Are you sulking, Gadget Mobile?"

"No, I was being quiet," the car replied, "but since you started talking again, I thought I'd ask what you're so happy about. I know you're looking forward to the party – _who_ are you looking forward to seeing there? Anyone special?"

Gadget had reached Riverton by now. He turned the corner and parked the car outside the cybernetics lab.

Suddenly tension filled his voice as he looked down at the screen.

"There's no one special! And even if there was I wouldn't tell you! Just drop the subject, okay?"

"Okay G Man...I'll shut up," the car replied.

* * *

Gadget switched off the engine and got out of the car, as he shut the car door he heard the familiar sound of the Gadget Mobile snoring as it recharged its battery, and then he looked at the steps that led up to the cybernetics lab and took in a deep breath as he smoothed down his trench coat.

"You can do this," he said nervously, "just go up to her and ask her if she wants to go to the party with you..."

And insecurity instantly crept into his voice as he thought about what he was planning to do.

"She's probably already got a date," he said under his breath as he climbed the steps,"I'm probably wasting my time..."

After entering the cybernetics center, he turned left and began to walk up a long corridor.

He stopped at closed elevator door and pressed the button.

And then he waited and he took another deep breath, knowing only too well that he wasn't really nervous about being turned down – he was Inspector Gadget, a lot of women found him attractive – but he was a nervous wreck thinking about the possibility that taking a certain young woman to a party might lead to an uncomfortable night later on, especially if she wanted to stay around after the party...

By the time the elevator had taken him up to the second floor and Gadget had made his way to the office that had a sign on the door that said _Dr. B. Nightingale_, he knew he was a nervous wreck.

But all the same, in absence of glitches, he made a swift knock on the door and tried not to think about glitches in case his nervous frame of mind caused disaster to strike.

And then she answered the door and as he looked at her, the worst of his nerves settled down.

"Inspector Gadget!" Bess Nightingale said brightly, and her face lit up in radiant smile that made her dark eyes sparkle.

Gadget briefly smiled back at her, remembering Bess always smiled at him like that. She worked closely with Brenda, the two of them had worked together for six months now, and Brenda was now head of cybernetics, having taken on the post five years before when Baxter had retired. When Gadget had heard Brenda was back in Riverton, he had been unsure of how she would react to seeing him again – but everything had worked out just fine, they were firm friends now. And the past was behind them - which was a good thing, because Gadget had liked Bess ever since she had joined the team and he was sure Brenda had seen the way he smiled at her, and the way she smiled at him too, but she had never said a word about it...

"Come in," Bess said, opening the door wider.

Then she turned and walked back to her desk and Gadget noticed the way the light caught on her shoulder-length hair, making auburn streaks stand out against soft, velvet brown and his heart missed a beat as he thought about sweeping her hair off her neck and softly kissing her.

But then she sat down and he took a seat too and looked at her across the desk, pausing to loosen his tie as he began to feel a little too hot.

"What can I do for you?" she asked him warmly.

Gadget hesitated.

Bess smiled again.

"I'm every bit as qualified as Brenda," she reminded him, "and if there's a problem, you can talk to me about it."

Gadget's blue eyes widened as he realized she had this wrong...

"No, there's not problem, everything's working just fine. I wanted to ask you something, that's all."

"I'm listening," she replied.

Gadget took another deep breath he looked down at the floor as he gathered his thoughts, then back at Bess and tried to explain, but even as the words came out, he knew he had let his nervousness get the better of him, because a simple question had turned into a series of questions instead.

"You do know I'm seventy per cent cyborg?"

She blinked.

"I'm well aware of all the details of your cyborg construction – one of the first things I had to learn about when in took this job was how to fix the prototype, because it's common knowledge that you often need minor work done...why did you ask me that?"

Gadget felt awkward now, it was something to do with the way she had referred to him as _'the prototype'_...

"I'm going to the party at the Mayor's house tomorrow night. She's celebrating twenty years of being in office and –"

"I know, I'm going too," Bess replied.

"And I wanted to ask something..." Gadget shook his head adding, "This isn't working out. I wanted to ask, I was just wondering about something..."

And he got up and walked over to the window, looking out of the view of Riverton Town.

"It's a bit difficult..." he began, and Bess got up from her desk and went over to the window and joined him.

"What's wrong?" She asked gently.

Gadget turned his head and met her gaze.

"I was thinking about taking someone to the party. I'm not sure if she'd want to go on a date with a guy who's seventy percent machine, that's all."

A flicker of disappointment showed in her eyes as Bess spoke again.

"Well I'm sure she won't turn you down, you're Inspector Gadget! And many girls would like the idea of going on a date with you. I don't think the cyborg issue would put her off - she might even find it exciting. I'm sure she'll say yes."

As Gadget spotted that look of disappointment in her eyes, he began to wonder why it was there...and then he got it, and as the realization dawned, he suddenly didn't feel so nervous any more.

"So if you were her, you'd say yes?"

"Absolutely!" she said, and he saw that disappointment in her eyes had been replaced by a sparkle once more.

Gadget turned from the window and looked into her eyes.

"So that means you'll come to the party with me, then?"

Bess smiled.

"I'd love to, Gadget!"

And Gadget smiled too, feeling a heat spread through his face.

"I'll pick you up in the Gadget Mobile at seven, tomorrow night."

"I'll be ready," she replied.

Gadget checked his watch.

"I have to go now, I promised the Chief I'd get over to Braydon Industries and speak to Taylor about the new developments with the radar guns his people are developing for Riverton PD's traffic cops."

Bess went back to her desk and sat down, reached for some paperwork and began to look through it even though she didn't have a clue what she was doing because her thoughts were filled with excitement as she thought about the date she had hoped for since the day she had first been introduced to Inspector Gadget.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow night," she said, keeping her eyes on the paperwork as she realised she was holding it upside down.

Gadget walked out of her office with a smile on his face. As he left the room, Bess let goof the paperwork and then she smiled too, as she thought about that hot date she had been dreaming of for months, and wondered what she ought to wear for the party, because she wanted to make a big impression on Gadget.

"_This is perfect,"_ she said quietly as she felt warm in her heart and it seemed as if butterflies fluttered about her stomach_, "Gadget is taking me out on a_ date..."

And then she giggled, recalling that word he often liked to use, _"Wowser!"_ she added with a delighted giggle.

* * *

As Gadget drove over to the East of Riverton, where a huge complex stood with the name _Braydon Industries_ emblazoned in silver lettering above the entrance, he was smiling again and the car noticed.

"I'm going to take a guess and say that visit to the lab wasn't to fix a glitch!"

"Your guess could be right, Gadget Mobile."

Gadget carefully drove down the busy street, keeping his concentration on the road, but that smile hadn't left his face.

"I think my _next_ guess could be right too – did you just ask Bess to the party?"

"Yes I did."

Gadget was still watching the road, but his smile got bigger.

"She said yes!" the car said happily, "Go for it, G Man – she's _crazy_ about you!"

Gadget glanced down at the face on the screen.

"Okay, that's enough about Bess! I have work to do, I have to go and see Taylor Braydon at Braydon Industries. I'm looking forward to meeting him - I've heard a lot of good things about his cyborg design programs."

"I bet you're looking forward to taking Bess to the party!"

Gadget laughed.

"Enough about Bess! I have work to do, shut up, Gadget Mobile."

"The computerized face on the screen smiled and looked up at him.

"I won't say another word, not one..."

"Good," Gadget replied as he showed his ID and waited for security to open the gates and let him into the parking area at Braydon Industries.

As the guard waved him through, Gadget drove inside.

The Gadget Mobile's face did a flip on the screen and looked up at him.

"Bess and Gadget up a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" it teased, and Gadget laughed again and felt his face begin to flush.

"I can't wait to turn off your engine!" he remarked as he reversed into a parking spot.

* * *

Up on the top floor of Braydon Industries, a tall, slender man in a dark brown suit sat at his secretary's desk and began to type a letter.

It was Emma's job to do the paperwork, but Emma had so much paper work and he was fond of his young, friendly blonde secretary and saw no harm in helping her out. She had gone off to fetch a new cartridge for the printer and while she was gone it seemed like the perfect time to make a friendly gesture – Taylor had decided to do her job for her...

He looked at the computer screen, then at the letter she had been about to reply to. It was from Glass Co, a company who made scanning equipment for the military, and the owner of the company had expressed an interest in making an offer on Braydon Industries.

Taylor's fingers hovered over the keyboard and then his face lit up in a goofy smile.

"Oh...I know!" he began, and started to type as he read his words aloud:

"Hi Marcia. Got your letter. No thanks, my company is not for sale."

And then he frowned, wondering how best to end the letter.

"She's a girl," he remarked, typing again and reading aloud: "Love, Taylor...and... I'll add a smiley face!"

Then he sat back and smiled proudly at his letter.

"I won't put kisses on it," he said aloud, "I gave a smiley face, that's polite enough..."

Then Emma came back into the room, Taylor got up from her seat and smiled at the blonde girl with the pretty face whose presence lit up his working day every day, although he didn't have the courage to tell her that.

"Surprise!" he said warmly "I did your work for you, Emma!"

Emma blinked behind lenses of small glasses that framed her face nicely, and then she looked at the screen, then back at Taylor as she resisted the urge to laugh. Taylor had inherited his father's business three years ago, and had turned it from an electronics company into a cyborg research business, but the research was not done by Taylor. He was not the sharpest tool in the box, but he was certainly kind and had every good intention behind his often misguided actions...

"Thank you," she said sweetly, "I guess that's one less letter I'll have to write today."

Emma searched through the papers on her desk and handed Taylor something she had been saving for him.

"I thought it best to show you this one," she told him "it's from a woman whose little boy was injured in a road accident. He lost his leg and she wants him to have a cyborg replacement unit but she can't afford the treatment. She wrote to us to ask if we knew of anywhere that we supply to who could direct her to some affordable ongoing care for him."

Taylor read the letter slowly. Then he put it back on her desk.

"Write back to her and tell her we'll be in touch with the hospital and he can have a new leg for free. And he's only ten years old, so he's going to need a few replacements before he stops growing, so tell her not to worry about the cost, Braydon Industries will pick up the tab."

And he smiled and so did Emma.

"You're so kind, Taylor," she told him.

"Well I'm a billionaire, I can afford to do this." Taylor replied, and then he showed a rare flash of business sense as he added, "Plus when people hear about what we've done for him it's good publicity for us – we'll get more customers. And maybe more letters from people who can't afford cybernetic limbs. At least if that happens, we get the good publicity _and_ we know who needs our help, too."

Emma felt very, very fond of Taylor as she saw such kindness in his light blue eyes. Then the phone rang on her desk and she answered it.

"Thank you, "she replied, "Send him straight up."

And she put the phone down and looked up at Taylor as she smiled, knowing what she was about to say would make him feel very thrilled – he was about to finally meet his idol, Inspector Gadget...

"You've got a visitor," she told him, "it's someone you've always wanted to meet, someone you've dreamed about meeting for many years!"

Taylor's eyes sparked with excitement.

"Is it a guessing game?"

Emma laughed as she nodded her head.

"Who do you _really _want to meet, Taylor?"

He ran his fingers through sun streaked blond hair as thought for a moment.

"Santa Claus!" he said excitedly, and Emma looked at him fondly as she held back on the urge to tell him, _I think I love you, Taylor Braydon..._

"No, it's not Santa. Inspector Gadget is here to talk about the new radar gun design for the Riverton Police Department."

"Inspector Gadget!" he exclaimed, "Cool! I've always wanted to meet him! He's a _proper_ cyborg! He's a hero, too. He saved this town from Claw! I remember reading about it –"

"You'd better go and wait in your office," Emma said to him, "I'll send him through in a minute, he's on his way up right now."

Taylor's eyes were shining with excitement.

"Gadget's coming to see me!" he said proudly, and hurried back into his office.

As the door closed Emma smiled as she thought how Taylor was so unlike any one she had ever known before – and everything about him made him more endearing to her with every passing day...

* * *

When Gadget was led through to the office of one of the world's most powerful men in the cybernetics industry, his secretary left the room and closed the door behind her and Gadget stood there, as the man stood with his back to him, looking out over his top-floor view of Riverton far below.

"Mr Braydon?" Gadget said, "I'm here to see the latest developments your people are working on for the new radar guns."

Taylor turned around.

His thrilled expression took Gadget by surprise, Taylor Braydon looked like he was about to leap over his desk and hug him.

"Inspector Gadget!" he said warmly, walking around the desk and grabbing his hand and shaking it vigorously, "Its an honor to meet you, sir! And call me Taylor, all my friends do."

And then he smiled.

"I'm a huge fan," Taylor added, "I love cyborg technology, and you're Riverton's greatest cyborg hero!"

Gadget smiled back at him. He was used to people getting excited to meet him, it was obvious Taylor was a fan and he was flattered by it.

"Okay Taylor – you should call me Gadget, that's what my friends call me," he replied, "and I'm looking forward to seeing what you've come up with regarding your latest developments. "

And then Gadget looked into the sparkling, but slightly vacant eyes of Taylor as he wondered how a guy who did not seem too bright could run a company that made such cutting edge inventions for cyborg development and design.

"Do you design any of your products yourself, Taylor?" he wondered.

Taylor was still smiling,

"Oh no," he replied proudly, "that would be _way_ too hard! I pay clever people to do it for me!"

And he carried on smiling.

"It must be so great to be you!" Taylor added, "I bet the ladies can't resist you because of your cyborg parts... I think of it as man metal...it must send the women into a frenzy..."

Gadget smiled politely.

"I can't say I've ever had that problem," he replied, resisting the urge to laugh.

Taylor's eyes sparkled with excitement again.

"Let me take you to the storage area, that's where all the finished parts and the latest inventions are kept."

And Gadget followed him from the office, they got into the elevator and Taylor hit the button for the basement level.

As the elevator descended, Taylor talked excitedly about the new design plans his people were working on for smaller, more powerful cyborg body parts. Then the doors opened into a brightly lit corridor with a polished floor where doors led off left and right. Taylor led him halfway down and paused to slide his ID card through an electronic lock.

"Confirm?" said a computerized voice.

Taylor leaned closer to the controls.

"Taylor William Braydon." He stated, and the door slid open.

As he led Gadget into a vast room filed with glass cases, Gadget stared at the cyborg parts on display: electronic brain implants, artificial organs and eyes that had wiring trailing out.

"We keep all the finished products down here in different rooms - this is the latest stuff and the place where we keep life saving parts like brain implants, spinal cord attachments, artificial organs...as soon as there's an order for something, we take it out and ship it off as fast as we can. I have a hundred units made up at a time, so there's plenty spare. I'm not in this business to make money Gadget - I'm already wealthy. I'm in this business to save lives."

"Wowser..." Gadget said under his breath as he took in the scale of how much stock Taylor had in this room - and this was just one room of many...

Then Gadget stepped closer to a case that contained many clear boxes, they were neatly stacked and the one on top had an open case. He looked thoughtfully through the glass as he wondered what the small, round, flat device was, it had wiring leading off it and a small LED panel in the centre, but it was so small it looked as if he could have easily fitted into the palm of his hand.

"What's this?" he asked.

Taylor walked over to the glass case and looked inside.

"That's the most important organ I manufacture," he told him, "Artificial human hearts - metal hearts, for people who have to have their human heart removed."

And Gadget reached up, briefly placing his hand over the left side of his chest. He couldn't feel his own heart beating through his suit and his trench coat, but he knew it was there; he still had a human heart despite how much of his body had been torn away by the blast that had seen him transformed into a cyborg. As long as that heart beat in his chest he knew he was still human, no matter how much of himself had been lost in the explosion or taken away by the doctors and replaced with machinery...

He pushed aside thoughts that threatened to draw him back into a dark place where memories of the trauma he had suffered made him want to weep, and he looked at Taylor and managed a smile.

"You're a good man, Taylor. You have the opportunity to make a lot of money but instead you're putting people first. I like that."

Taylor smiled back at him.

"Lets go to the lab now," he said, "I'll show you what we're doing to make those more efficient radar guns for your traffic cops."

They turned and began to walk back towards the door.

"I'm going to the Mayor's party tomorrow!" Taylor said proudly, "I can't believe the Mayor of Riverton invited _me_ to her party!"

"She's always looking for rich investors," Gadget replied, but Taylor had missed the point.

"But it's so nice she invited me, she doesn't even _know_ me!" he said, and the two of them left the room and headed off to the fourth floor, where the new design radar guns were being tested.

Much later, Gadget said goodbye to Taylor, promised him he would catch up with him at the party and then he left with paperwork and drove over to Riverton Police Department.

* * *

He parked the Gadget Mobile and got out, then went into the building and made his way quickly to the office of Chief Quimby.

Gadget paused outside the door, discreetly extending his cyborg ear, just to check he wasn't interrupting an important meeting.

But no sound came from within so his ear slid back into place and Gadget knocked on the door.

"Yes?" the Chief said gruffly.

Gadget opened the door and walked into the office, placed the paperwork on the desk and smiled at the Chief.

"It's all here, sir. All the details about the new radar guns Taylor Braydon's people are designing for us. I think its very generous of him to help us out like this – he showed me around his company, too - the volume of cybernetic organs they produce is unbelievable!"

The Chief sipped a steaming mug of coffee and set it down on the table again.

"Thanks, Gadget," he said, "You can go now."

Gadget stared at him.

"You don't have anything for me to do today?"

The Chief shrugged.

"Go home, Gadget. I wanted the paperwork from Braydon Industries - that's your job done for the day. Riverton - thanks to you - is crime free. Let's hope it stays that way."

Gadget smiled.

"Thank you, sir!"

The Chief did not return his smile, instead he reached over and took a donut out of a box on the desk and took a bite out of it.

"See you at the party tomorrow."

"Yes Chief, I'm looking forward to it."

And he turned to leave.

"Gadget..."

He turned back and looked at the Chief, who sat there with a donut in his hand that would have been perfectly round had there not been a bite taken out of it.

"I hope you've practised your speech," Quimby reminded him.

Gadget's eyes widened a little. His speech for the Mayor's party, about how he was proud to be part of a police force that had kept Riverton crime-free, was something he kept putting off...

"I'll be fine," he replied,"I'm bringing my notes with me."

And then Gadget left the office, as he walked out of the police department and back into the spring sunshine, he thought about practising his speech. Then he remembered Penny was home early today and decided notes would have to be enough to make his speech because he wanted to spend some time with his niece.

* * *

When Gadget got home, he parked outside his house and got out of the Gadget Mobile.

Brain yapped and ran towards him and he paused to lean down and stroke the top of the dog's head. Brain never aged. Brain was a smart dog. Brain was not like other dogs, and Gadget didn't mind that one bit because he knew what it was like to be different, that feeling had never left him since the day half his body had been ripped away in the explosion that almost killed him.

"You're in a happy mood!" he said, recognising the joy in the dog's eyes, "Is Penny home early?"

Brain barked and scampered back into the house.

Gadget followed, stepping through the open doorway and calling to Penny.

"The Chief gave me the rest of the day off!" he announced, pausing in the hallway to take off his fedora hat and hang up his trench coat, "Can you believe that, Penny? He's in a good mood because of the Mayor's party, I know it!"

Penny walked out of the kitchen. She tossed honey coloured hair off her shoulder and looked at her Uncle Gadget.

"And are you looking forward to the party?" she asked him.

Gadget looked back at the young woman who stood before him and once again felt an immense sense of pride that he had done such a good job raising her.

Penny's parents had died when she was young. There had been a break-in at the house and Gadget's sister and her husband had been shot dead by armed robbers. Penny had been a young child shivering alone in her bedroom as the shots rang out. Apparently the burglars had spared her because she was a child – and even bad guys had families, and neither were up to shooting a kid...

Back in those days Quimby had just taken over as Chief of police, and his first task had been to catch those killers, which he had done swiftly. Penny had come to live with her Uncle as a traumatized little girl.

_But their bond had grown strong and he had brought out the best in her._

Now she stood before him as a young confident woman in her twenties, who went to the gym in her spare time, when she wasn't running self-defence classes at the local sports hall. Penny still lived at home. He wasn't sure if it was because she liked to think she was taking care of him, or if it was because she felt safe with her Uncle around, her Uncle who had turned from John Brown into Gadget the crime fighter. But what ever the real reason, he was glad she was still at home - he knew she would fly the nest one day, and when she did, he would miss her terribly.

Penny walked down the hallway and asked him again about the party.

Gadget smiled.

"I am looking forward to it now," he told her," I asked Bess if she wanted to come with me and she said yes."

Penny's eyes shone with happiness.

"That's great! What time are you picking her up tomorrow?"

"Seven o'clock," Gadget replied, "I thought we could get ready for the party about half six and then go and pick her up –"

"No..."

Gadget's eyes clouded with confusion.

"You're not coming with us?"

Penny shook her head and then looked kindly at her Uncle Gadget.

"I'll get over to the party on my own, in _my_ car. You take the Gadget Mobile and go and pick up your date."

"Don't you want me to take you to the party? I thought we could go together."

Penny laughed softly.

"Uncle Gadget, it's been the same since I was a kid... you took Brenda to the movies, I came too. You and G2 went everywhere together in the Gadget Mobile and I came along for the ride. I'm not surprised you haven't had much romance in your life! I'm a big girl now - I'll get myself to the party. And I'll catch up with a couple of friends who are also going to the party and we'll leave together and I'll spend the night on the couch of one of my girlfriends."

Gadget was still confused.

"Why?" he asked her.

"In case you get lucky with Bess!" she exclaimed, "And I hope you do too – she likes you a lot and you like her. I'd love to see the two of you get together!"

Gadget began to blush.

"So would I, Penny," he admitted, "I really like her a lot."

Penny looked at her Uncle fondly and gave him a brief hug.

As she let go she smiled and the enthusiasm he saw in her eyes reminded him of the days when she had been a rebellious teen, forever ignoring his requests not to get involved in police work, because adventurous Penny had wanted to help him so much...

"It's going to be just great!" she told him, "Trust me, you need to go alone to the party with Bess. This is going to work out for you, I'm sure of it!"

Her enthusiasm was infectious and Gadget smiled too.

"So am I," he said hopefully, "I'm crazy about her – and I think she likes me too. I'm really looking forward to this party!"

* * *

Over in North Riverton, the Glass Co building towered skywards and in the top floor office of the building, a young woman stood at the window, looking over the river towards the town, her thoughts on a plan she was uneasy about.

As she was joined by her companion, he walked up behind her, pausing to admire the way her slender figure was hugged by her short dark skirt and white blouse, then as a metal pincer reached up to brush a stray lock of fair hair from her face, she caught her breath, hastily smoothing down her otherwise immaculate swept up hair as she wished this man would keep his hands – or at least his pincer, to himself.

"I'm not sure about this plan of yours, Claw." She said quietly.

Claw, known in his pre-criminal days as Sandford Scolex, stepped closer to her, lowering his voice.

"What _exactly_ don't you agree with, Marcia? My weapon will hold the cybernetics industries of the world to ransom when they see what it can do!"

"_Our_ weapon," she reminded him, "You're a twice-escaped criminal and you couldn't have built this technology with out my help!"

Claw's eyes narrowed.

"And what reservation could you possibly have about our brilliant –I mean, _my_ brilliant plan?"

She took in a deep breath and looked back at the view of Riverton, then turned and met his gaze.

"I'm totally in favor of holding the industry to ransom," she replied, "I have no problem with that. And I'd love to get my hands on Braydon Industries, too. Taylor Braydon has some remarkable people working for him and I could certainly use their expertise for my military research programs. But it's just the thought that we're about prove the power of that weapon on one man, it seems very brutal."

Claw laughed.

"Brutal? That bastard had me locked up in jail twice, Marcia! There's two reasons why we'll begin by making our first target Inspector Gadget - firstly, he's a high profile figure in Riverton and secondly - for me, it's about revenge. Any more questions?"

Marcia was still uneasy, so said what was on her mind:

"But he's seventy percent cyborg. From the moment that pulse goes off, every electronic part in his body will be rendered useless, destroyed or both! We don't know how dependant he may be on artificial life support. He could die instantly or maybe not - he could be blinded, paralysed...he could die a slow and painful death as his cyborg body ceases to function. Have you thought about that? Have you thought about what we're about to do, about how inhumane it is?"

And a look of smug satisfaction spread across Claw's face as he considered her words.

"Oh yes, my dear," he said warmly," I _have_ thought about it - and the more I think about it, the more I _like_ the idea!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was the evening of the party. Penny hurried to the front door and then turned back, pausing to adjust her shoe as she wondered why she had bothered with high heels when she knew she would have been much more comfortable in flats.

"I'm leaving now!"

"Okay, see you at the party!" Gadget called from upstairs.

Penny smiled.

"Good luck with Bess!" she called back, and then she left the house and closed the door behind her.

Gadget heard the front door shut and then he turned back to the bedroom mirror, adjusting his tie and then smoothing down the jacket of his black suit.

He ran his hand over his dark hair and then thought about some cologne. He swiftly changed his mind as he guessed he would only be covering up the vague trace of the mix of masculine scent and oil that usually clung to his skin – he didn't want to hide it from her, because she already knew he was seventy percent cyborg...

He stepped back and checked his reflection, feeling rather pleased with that he saw:

He hadn't aged much at all since becoming the cyborg known as Inspector Gadget, and he was in good shape. His face still looked youthful and his dark hair didn't have a trace of grey...

He took a deep breath and met the gaze of his own sky blue eyes reflected in the glass.

"You can do this," he said quietly, "just forget about your insecurities for one night... she's not thinking about all that, she likes you..."

And then he turned from the mirror as he felt another flicker of insecurity.

"At least, I _hope_ she likes me a lot," he added, and then he left the bedroom and went downstairs and grabbed his car keys.

* * *

Twenty minutes later as he drove towards the house where Bess lived close to the center of Riverton Town, the Gadget Mobile began to chatter away excitedly.

"So, G Man... tonight is _the_ night!"

Gadget couldn't hide his smile on hearing those words.

"You bet it is – when I get to her house, I'm shutting you down. I'm putting this car on manual for the night!"

"What?" the Gadget Mobile said indignantly, "You can't do that to me!"

"I can and I will, I don't want you saying the wrong thing in front of Bess!"

"Would I do a thing like that?"

"Yes," Gadget replied.

He glanced down at the computerized face on the screen.

"I know what you're like!" he said, "I _know _you'll embarrass me!"

"I'd do no such thing!" the car whined in protest as its voice went up an octave, "I wouldn't do that to you, G Man... I don't _need_ to give her any advice on how to handle you when things heat up...she's a highly trained cybernetics expert, she knows all about how you're put together!"

Gadget had been watching the road again, but now he looked down sharply at the face on the screen.

"Okay, that's enough! _Stop _talking like that!"

"Talking like what? I was only thinking about those four special sensors you've got in a certain place... she might want to warm them up later, if you see what I mean..._maybe you should stop off and get some lubricating gel, it just won't feel the same if she covers them with her face cream...or whipped cream...or... or maybe STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM!"_

Gadgets jaw tightened as his face turned scarlet.

He glared down at screen once more.

"That's it, that's enough...you're on manual lockdown - starting from now!"

"But Gadget –"

The screen fell dark as Gadget reached beneath it and unplugged a wire. Then he flipped open a keypad beside the screen and put in his security code, turning off every remaining independent function.

And then Gadget took a deep breath and concentrated on the road, the house was in sight now and he didn't want to knock on her door looking flustered because Bess would wonder why...

"Strawberry ice cream!" he exclaimed, still feeling the heat spreading through his face as he thought about the metal plate above his groin where four raised sensors served to allow him pleasure when stimulated. Then he shook his head; Gadget Mobile had already embarrassed him and now he had to put thoughts like that out of his mind, because he was about to pick up Bess...

Then he briefly smiled as he remembered he _did _have some lubricating gel at home, in a drawer beside his bed...

He glanced down at the darkened screen and smiled fondly even though the car's independent function was now disconnected.

"It didn't even occur to me that I might be taking her home!" he said, "But now you've put that thought in my head, thanks a lot, Gadget Mobile..."

* * *

Gadget pulled up outside the house and turned off the engine.

As he got out of the car he took a deep breath, thankful the cool night air was helping to chase away the flush in his cheeks.

He stood on the porch and rang the bell and it wasn't long before Bess answered the door.

As she stepped outside into the porch light, Gadget smiled.

"You look nice, really nice," he said to her.

She smiled back at him, as the light caught on the highlights in her hair and made her short, white, silken dress shimmer.

"So do you Gadget," she replied.

And for a moment, Gadget didn't know what to say as their eyes met.

"Um...shall we go?" he suggested.

And Bess walked with him to the car.

As she got in beside him, he breathed a relieved sigh, feeling sure he had done the right thing to turn off the Gadget Mobile's independent personality. Then he started up the car and they headed off for the winding road that took a steady climb up to the Riverton Hills, towards Mayor Wilson's mansion.

* * *

The guests were still arriving.

Soft music played out across the sprawling lawn and lights were strung up all around, soft lanterns that made the garden glow.

As Taylor Braydon walked over to the top table close to the microphone that had been set up for Mayor Wilson to give a short speech, someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"Taylor Braydon of Braydon Industries?" a woman said warmly.

"That's me!" Taylor said brightly, turning around and finding himself face to face with Mayor Wilson, who was wearing a dark red dress that seemed impossibly short and as he stared at her plunging cleavage, he deliberately looked up again, into her eyes as she stepped closer and licked ruby red lips.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she told him, "I'm honored to have such a powerful man here at my party. You must sit next to me, let's sit down right now and talk about your wonderful cybernetics business!"

And Taylor tried to protest, but she grabbed the sleeve of his jacket, so he complied, sitting beside her at the table and smiling nervously.

The Mayor shifted her chair closer, pausing to look up and wave and briefly greet approaching guests. The she turned her attention back to Taylor.

"I think it's wonderful, all the work and investment you've put into cybernetics!" she exclaimed, "I'm very fascinated by the subject! And I'd very much like you on board, Taylor. I think you and I can combine our abilities and do some _wonderful_ things for Riverton!"

And she smiled.

_"Wonderful things,"_ she said again, as she slipped her hand beneath the table and placed it lightly on his knee.

Taylor laughed nervously.

"That's my leg," he informed her.

The Mayor looked into his eyes.

Taylor's smile faded as she slid her hand up his thigh – then higher still, and gave him a light squeeze.

"_Oh no!"_ He gasped, sending his chair clattering backwards as he jumped up from his seat.

The Mayor got up too and smiled.

"Just trying to get acquainted, Taylor- you're a powerful man, I could use someone like you to help me do good things for Riverton."

He drew in a tight breath as he wished Emma had accepted his invitation to come with him to the party, but she had shyly turned him down, saying it was a place for _important people_ only...

"I'd better go..." Taylor stammered, stepping back and colliding with a neatly clipped hedge.

The Mayor took another step forward.

And then Taylor's eyes lit up and he looked over to the table and waved frantically.

"Gadget!" he called and Gadget glanced up and gave him a brief wave as he sat down.

"I have to go, "Taylor said quickly, "I've just seen my friend..."

* * *

Taylor hurried back to the table, taking a seat beside Gadget, who had been busy talking with Bess.

"Gadget," he said urgently, as he tugged at his sleeve, "I need to talk to you!"

As Gadget looked at Taylor, he wondered why he looked so alarmed, his eyes were wide and he was behaving as if he'd just been chased by a lion...

"What's wrong?" he asked him.

Taylor lowered his voice and leaned closer to Gadget.

"Mayor Wilson just _touched_ me! _Why_ did she do that?"

Gadget laughed softly as he shook his head.

"Because she's like that! She does it to everyone - she's Man-eater Wilson. Just let it go, forget about it."

Taylor shook his head.

"No, you don't get it, she touched me right on my –"

"She does that too," Gadget added.

"_And_ she squeezed me!" he protested.

Gadget tried not to laugh as he looked at back at Taylor.

"Just sit with me, "he replied,"don't worry Taylor, I'll keep you safe. She's sitting with Chief Quimby and his wife now, she's on the other side of the table, and its a big table...she can't reach you now."

"Thanks," Taylor replied, and then he reached for a wine bottle and helped himself to a glass of wine as he sat there wishing Emma had agreed to come with him tonight.

* * *

While the guest continued to arrive and Taylor sat there looking around at people, the garden, the sky – _anything_ to avoid eye contact with the Mayor, Gadget turned to Bess and looked into her eyes.

"I'm really glad we came here together tonight," he told her.

"So am I," Bess replied, "this is nice, you and me and -"

"Taylor Braydon avoiding Mayor Wilson!" Gadget said with a chuckle.

Then he shifted away further from Taylor, who was staring vacantly at the lanterns strung about the garden, and leaned closer to her.

"What I said before, about me being seventy per cent cyborg...I felt I had to mention it because I thought it might make a difference, I thought you might not want to go on a date with a guy who's more than half cyborg."

As she looked at him, warmth shone from her eyes.

"You should know that makes no difference to me!" she said quietly, "I know all about your design...it's a very wonderful design too. And you're a very nice man. I'm glad I'm here, and I'm glad I'm here with you."

And they looked at each other and exchanged a smile.

Gadget felt his nervousness melting away now.

He placed his hand lightly on her arm as he leaned closer to her ear.

"I'm looking forward to a dance with you later on – a nice, slow dance. "

She smiled and for a moment her cheek brushed against his, then she met his gaze again.

"I want to get to know you better, Gadget. I think we should have that dance – I want to get closer too."

Gadget ran a finger gently down the back of her hand.

"Maybe a _lot_ closer?"

And the look in her eyes said it all.

_"Much closer,"_ she replied.

And then Penny passed the table, pausing to smile at her Uncle.

She had spotted he was leaning close to Bess and the two of them seemed to be engaged in a private conversation, and as Gadget spotted her and waved back he beckoned to her.

"Come and sit with us Penny."

Penny smiled and shook her head.

"Enjoy your date!" she reminded him,"I'm way over there, three tables back. I'll catch up with you later."

And she smiled fondly at her Uncle and walked away.

"She's determined to leave us alone together," Gadget remarked.

Amusement danced in her eyes as Bess looked back at him.

"And it's very thoughtful of her," she replied, and briefly gave his hand a squeeze.

"I wish I didn't have to give this speech," Gadget told her, and then his face flushed a little as he smiled, adding, "I could leave right now – we could have that dance in my garden, it would be just the two of us..."

"Sounds like that would be fun," Bess replied, and then as Gadget reached into his pocket and found it empty, she caught a flash of panic in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"I forgot my notes!" he exclaimed, "I was supposed to practise my speech and I didn't bother - I was in such a rush to get to the party -"

"To meet me?" Bess suggested.

Gadget laughed softly as his face flushed again.

"You were very much on my mind."

"Have we got time to go back and fetch your notes?" Bess asked him.

He shook his head.

"It doesn't matter, I'll get through it some how," he replied, and gave her hand another squeeze.

Their eyes met and neither of them wanted to look away, but then the music stopped and the Mayor stood up and began her speech.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, while Mayor Wilson basked in the attention of all her guests and gushed on about how she had a great vision for Riverton's future, Gadget was distracted by a weight that fell gently against his shoulder, along with the sound of gentle snoring.

As he looked around so did Bess, who put a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle.

Taylor Braydon was leaning against Gadget, snoring lightly.

Gadget gave him a nudge.

Taylor woke up with a start, blinking sleepy eyes as he looked left and right.

_"Don't let her grab me again!"_ he said, _"Not my nuts!"_

And a few heads turned and Gadget laughed, gripping Taylor's arm and giving him a gentle shake.

"Don't panic, Taylor," he said quietly, "Mayor Wilson won't get her hands on you - she's still up there giving her speech."

Taylor blinked and straightened up in his chair.

"She's _still_ talking? No wonder I fell asleep!"

Gadget turned to Bess.

"I think I know what I'm going to say," he told her, "I just need to speak from my heart, that's not so hard to do."

Bess couldn't break away from his gaze.

"Do you often speak from your heart?"

As he looked at her he felt warmth and fondness deepening and he smiled.

"Always," he replied, and then the Mayor ended her speech and he heard her say his name and the crowd broke into applause.

"This won't take long," Gadget told her, and he briefly touched the back of her hand before leaving his seat and making his way up to join the Mayor, to take his turn to address the crowd.

* * *

As Gadget stood before the microphone, he looked at the guests, then he spotted Penny a few tables back and she gave him a big smile. Bess was at the front, watching him with such fondness in her eyes. He tried not to think too much about how he felt about Bess as he focussed on what he needed to say.

"Thank you," he began, as the applause faded out, "I would like to say a few words on this occasion – not many because..."

He paused, wishing he could be very honest about it and say, _because I forgot to bring my notes with me..._

And then Gadget continued:

"I've seen a lot of change in Riverton over the past decade. It's all been positive. Like Mayor Wilson said, Riverton is a crime-free town. And I'm confident that will continue. "

Gadget paused, feeling a brief flicker of panic as it occurred to him that he didn't know what came next. Then he found the words, and continued:

"I don't recall all the financial details of how much investment has been put into our town, I'm supposed to, but I've forgotten. But I do know it's a lot of money. And I know Mayor Wilson has dedicated her life to Riverton, and dedicated her hard work to making Riverton a better place to live..."

And the Mayor, who had now taken her seat at the table, sweetly thanked him for saying that, and he glanced at her and briefly smiled, then looked back into the crowd.

"Mayor Wilson has done a wonderful job of keeping Riverton thriving and-"

Gadget broke off, staring far off towards the back of the gathering:

_He was standing there, far behind the last of the tables, beneath lamps strung around the brick wall that stood between the gardens and the road outside the Mayor's garden. _

Gadget continued to stare, feeling as if he was seeing a ghost:

_There, dressed in a dark suit, stood Sandford Scolex._

_Gadget blinked...Claw? _

_The man stood there motionless, and then he turned over a closed metal pincer. In his grip sat a black, pyramid-shaped box._

_He lifted off the top of the box. His other, human hand shifted slowly downwards, finger poised to hit a button._

_Gadget blinked again._

A murmur went around the crowd and Gadget focussed on the audience.

"I...I was saying, Riverton has become a thriving town and its all thanks to Mayor Wilson... And –"

_He looked up again._

_Now he was sure he was really seeing Sandford Scolex._

_He stood there holding the device as a smile played about his lips._

Gadget looked back at the crowd, then at Scolex.

He wanted to warn them, to say one word:

Claw...

_Then Scolex hit the button._

A searing pain hit Gadget and tore at his insides as lights blew, the sound system crackled and fell into silence and as Gadget gripped at the microphone, a searing pain ripped through his chest as something at the back of his eyes blew too, popping out like the blown lights that surrouded the party.

He was aware of the party guests standing up, but his last seconds seemed to play back to him in slow motion:

Penny was pushing her way through the crowd, Bess was rising from her seat and calling out, asking what table Brenda Bradford was on, and it sounded as if she was under water.

Sound was fading out and light was fading out.

Pain was tearing through him and he felt as if his heart was about to explode.

For the briefest of seconds, Gadget clutched at the microphone as the shock hit him, then he let go and slumped heavily to the ground, falling forward, smacking his head against the corner of the nearby table.

He fell hard on to the ground, face down as he fought to breathe and the thirty percent of his body that was still human fought to stay alive as his cyborg life support cut out.

And then Gadget knew nothing; he was blinded and deafened by the shock of the surge that just hit him, and rapidly lost consciousness.

* * *

_It had happened in a split second._

One minute Penny had been listening to her Uncle give a speech, and then he had fallen silent, as he looked far off beyond the crowd. Then the lights had gone out, the sound system had cut out and as Penny saw her Uncle tremble and fall to the ground, she had pushed her way through the confused crowd.

Some were talking about a power cut, but the subject was swiftly forgotten as Bess Nightingale fell to her knees and turned Gadget over and then Brenda Bradford joined her, and Penny stood there feeling cold with shock and small as a child as she realised something had happened to her Uncle Gadget, something terrible, because Brenda shouted out that her cell phone was down, she needed a cell phone, someone had to call an ambulance with instruction to take the patient to the cybernetics center, and he needed to be moved there _now_...

_And all Penny could hear was other people saying their cell phones were down._

_She reached into her purse and took out her own phone and saw that it was dead._

"I left mine in the car!" someone yelled, and Penny turned to see Taylor Braydon dash off up the path towards the front of the house.

Then she looked down at her Uncle.

He was on his back and sweat was pouring off his face.

Brenda was leaning over him checking for a pulse.

"I don't understand," she said, "I think he's had a heart attack."

Bess was shaking her head.

"That's not possible, he's a cyborg, he's got cyborg life support - _what are you doing?_"

Brenda grabbed a knife from the nearby table.

Penny gave a gasp.

_"Don't hurt him!"_ she said as she stared at him, lying there and not moving, and in her mind a gun went off twice as she hid under her bed as a child and prayed for the bad men to go away.

Her Uncle Gadget had always been there, been her protector... it filled her with horror to think that now she couldn't protect him.

"_Don't!"_ she yelled, and as Brenda tugged at Gadget's shirt and tore it open exposing his chest, Penny stepped forward, but then someone grabbed her and held her back.

She fought and kicked out and tried to use her knowledge of self defence, but every move she tried was blocked and the man who held her pinned her arm behind her back as he restrained her, and Penny felt as if she may as well, for all her expertise, have been fighting a marine.

"_Don't struggle!" _he said to her as he stood behind her and kept her restrained, "I've been trained by the best for my own defence because I may need it one day, because of who I am! Now keep still, trust those ladies - they're cybernetic doctors, they can help him, okay?"

Penny was unable to answer as she gave a sob, watching as Brenda took the knife and carved a large incision into Gadget's chest. Blood and oil spilled out as she peeled back the skin, exposing a blood stained chest plate beneath.

"I don't have time to unscrew it," she said, and jammed the flat edge of the knife beneath the seam and forced it open. As it sprang back Penny caught her breath, realising she was seeing inside Gadget's chest, his human heart was glistening in the moonlight and she could see it shivering, not beating, just shuddering...

"He's in V-fib!" Brenda yelled, and Bess stared at her.

"But how?"

Brenda looked into the open chest unit.

She saw the burnt out wires, burnt out all the way into connections that led into his heart.

"Oh God no," she said in a shocked voice," the wirings burnt out, its burnt into the heart muscle..."

And Brenda shoved her hand into Gadget's chest and began to manually pump his heart.

Penny gave another sob as her legs buckled.

The man behind her had her held firmly and he was asking again, would she keep back, because these ladies were trying to save Gadget's life...

Penny gave another sob as tears ran down her face and then she nodded.

Brenda moved over and Bess took over the task of massaging Gadget's heart.

Strong hands grabbed Penny by the shoulders and turned her around.

"You have to let them work on him, and help is on the way, my cell phone was working, I had to call from the car but help is coming, okay?" he said to her, looking right into her eyes.

And Penny recognised him at once... she was looking into the eyes of Taylor Braydon of Braydon Industries...

Then Penny heard the wail of sirens and Taylor gently pulled her back a little, she stumbled on numb legs as she stepped back, watching as Bess and Brenda took turns to manually pump his heart until lights lit up the way as the ambulance drove up into the garden and peoplemoved aside, making room for the medics who rushed to the scene and began to work on Gadget.

* * *

_Penny felt as if the world was in blur_.

While the ambulance crew worked on Gadget, Brenda was relaying information as best she could.

Penny understood none of it except that her Uncle had suffered a massive overload and his cybernetic systems had been destroyed. She heard Brenda mention _massive cardiac trauma_ and then her voice was drowned out by the slow - growing sound of a whine as the defibrillator powered up and Gadget's heart was shocked, the burst of power sent a sight ripple through his body and his hand twitched. They were forcing air into him, fighting to keep him breathing. Then finally, the equipment he had been quickly wired up to showed a heart rate, it was slow but constant.

"We've got him back," Bess said as she blinked back tears.

Then the cardiac monitor's spike faltered and once again Gadget's shuddering heart was briefly touched by the steel paddles. His body twitched and the signal came back, his heart was beating again.

"We don't have much time," Brenda said as the medics prepared to move him, "He won't last long – he keeps going into V-fib. Shocking him sets it back in rhythm but it won't last - too many shocks to the heart will kill him."

Taylor looked sharply at Brenda.

"I'm Taylor Braydon. "

Brenda's thoughts were with Gadget and she looked blankly at Taylor.

"What?" she said vaguely.

"Braydon Industries - if you need cyborg parts, anything – I'm your man. What does he need?"

Gadget was being loaded into the back of the ambulance.

Brenda ran her fingers through her hair and she shook her head as too many calculations hit her at once. Gadget had suffered massive electrical damage, and some of that damage had affected what remained of his human body too...

"He needs..._everything_."

Taylor hit a number on speed dial.

"I have an emergency," he said, "This is Taylor, I'm handing you over to Brenda Bradford - she's going to tell you what she needs..."

And he handed the phone to Brenda, who thanked him and got into the back of the ambulance with Bess.

* * *

Taylor turned to Chief Quimby, who stood in the darkened garden looking bewildered, his gaze was fixed on the ambulance as the doors closed and the siren wailed and the vehicle drove away, picking up speed as it headed for the gates of the mansion and the open road beyond.

"Chief Quimby," he said.

Quimby was still watching as the ambulance headed off into the distance, racing away from the scene.

"_Quimby!"_

The Chief turned his head and looked at Taylor.

"I'm Taylor Braydon, Braydon Industries?"

The Chief nodded, but his thoughts were still with Gadget.

"Listen to me," Taylor said, "Gadget needs some emergency replacement parts – life-saving components! Brenda's on the phone to my people now – they'll get everything he needs and get it over to the cybernetics lab in thirty minutes. _They could get it there a lot quicker with police assistance_."

The Chief was still in shock as he thought about Gadget, then he briefly wondered why the lights had blown, why everything electrical had gone out the minute his Inspector had collapsed, but he had heard what Taylor had said.

"I'll get on to it now," he told him, "The Mayor said the phone in her office is still working. I'll arrange a chopper to pick up the supplies and have it flown over to the cybernetics center."

As Quimby hurried back towards the house, where lights were now blazing, Penny turned to Taylor, her eyes wide with shock.

"I wanted to go with my Uncle." She said, sounding lost, "I want to be with him..."

And she gave another sob as terror filled her eyes and she dragged in a sharp breath.

_"I want my Uncle Gadget!"_ She yelled, and Taylor grabbed her tightly, holding her as she sobbed against him and shouted Gadget's name again.

"Okay, I'll drive you there. My cars okay, it still works..."

And as he held Penny, he looked around in confusion, wondering why Gadget had collapsed the minute the lights had gone out...

He glanced around at the guests who stood around in confusion talking about dead cell phones and cars that wouldn't start.

"Does anyone have a working phone?" he called out.

He was met with a few blank looks, then a young woman approached him and handed him her cell phone.

"Thank you so much," Taylor said with gratitude, "My phone is with the doctors treating Inspector Gadget – I need to keep yours instead...get yourself another one send the bill to Braydon Industries..."

And then he kept his arm around Penny as he led her up the path, towards the cars parked at the front of the building, while he called his research team who were on the night shift.

Penny walked, she knew she was walking but her legs were still numb. She felt as if her body had turned hollow, no bones inside, nothing, she was just a shell. But her legs were moving and she was glad of it because as long as she could walk, she could get to the car and the car would take her to the Cybernetics center...

"Are you okay?" Taylor asked her.

Penny looked down at the ground to be sure her legs were still moving.

"I feel like my bones are gone... its like if I think about it, I can see inside me, no bones... I'm empty..."

Taylor tightened his grip around her shoulder as they continued to walk.

"You're in shock," he said, "We're almost there – I have to make a phone call. Let's keep walking while I do it."

And he keyed in a number, and spoke immediately as the call was answered.

"This is Taylor Braydon. There's been an incident at the Mayors house. It was lights out, power down and then Inspector Gadget had some kind of overload, he's on the way to the cybernetics center and it's not looking good...I want you to get a team out here right now to work with Quimby's people, something's happened here, like a power cut that almost killed Gadget too. I don't get it, I don't know what happened and we need to find out why. You can reach me on this number until further notice."

Then he slipped the phone into his pocket and led Penny over to his car.

"Don't worry, " he said to her as he took off his jacket and slipped it around her shoulders, "I'll get you over to the cybernetics center, and then you can be with your Uncle."

Penny whispered a word of thanks and shivered as she pulled his jacket tighter about her shoulders, and then she got into the car, still feeling numb and wishing none of this was real.

* * *

By the time the chopper landed on the roof of the cybernetics center, Gadget was on the operating table with his chest plates removed.

He was on oxygen and had tubes and lines forced into what was left of his human body and while Bess fought to keep him stabilized, she looked across the table at Brenda and shook her head.

"He won't hold on much longer. If he goes into V-fib one more time, we've lost him. His heart's massively damaged; I don't know how we can fix this..."

Brenda had put aside her personal feelings for the man she had once been so close to, because now was a time to think only of doing her job. If she wanted to weep – and she was sure that time would come – she would do it later, not now, because now was the time when the best she could give to Gadget was her expertise.

"As soon as they bring the vital replacement parts down to us, we take out his heart."

Bess stared at her.

"You're taking it out?"

"We can attach the cybernetic heart and link up to the main artery and keep the new heart beating by introducing the main wiring into the connecting tissue, once that's sealed in we can remove the organic heart and thread in the rest of the wiring. Once his new heart's stable, we have him back. Then I suggest a drug induced coma for at least forty-eight hours while we replace much of the nervous system wiring. That will give him back movement, sensation and awareness, hopefully his speech too. We can't fix his eyes yet and we can't fix his hearing. That will have to wait – he's weak, so we get the vital surgery done first and then carry out the rest when he's stronger. He has some limited hearing in his human ear; I can amp that up with a hearing aid until he's strong enough to get the non-vital replacement surgery out of the way."

Bess looked at the cardiac monitor. Gadget's heart rate was shaky, but hadn't yet slipped back into V-fib. She looked down at him and briefly ran her hand over his dark hair.

"Hold on Gadget," she said quietly "We're doing all we can for you..."

And then the doors opened and the rest of the medical team came in, along with the cybernetic components flown over from Braydon Industries.

Brenda took a deep breath as she looked at Bess.

"This is it," she said, "it's going to be a _very_ long night..."

* * *

As Chief Quimby walked into the cybernetics center, he was blinking away tears as he thought of Gadget, the clumsy, prototype crime fighting cyborg who had proven to be Riverton's greatest defender. There had been many times over the years he had lost his temper because of Gadget's glitches and mistakes and yelled his name in fury, but now as he thought of him, all he wanted to do was shed tears. He had wept in the car on the way over to the cybernetics centre but now he had arrived,he held back his tears, knowing this was as good a time as any to practise holding his emotions together, because the press would be outside soon, demanding answers - and so far he had none except the little information he had been given since Gadget had been taken in for surgery – the Inspector had suffered a massive overload of power, cutting dead his circuits, some of that overload had caused damage.

The exact word used to describe that damage had been _catastrophic._

He had learned that Taylor Braydon had sent over some of his best scientists to work with his police force to establish exactly what had happened at the house. He was grateful for the help and wanted to thank him sincerely, but as he walked up the corridor and saw Taylor sitting in the waiting area with his arm around Gadgets shattered-looking niece, all he could do was say a brief word of thanks, it didn't seem enough but no more words would come.

Then Quimby turned to Penny.

Her face was pale and she had the kind of shocked look in her eyes that he hadn't seen since that terrible day when she had been a frightened child, traumatized by the murder of her parents.

It had been so long ago and he never thought he would have seen that look back in her eyes again.

"We'll find out what happened," Quimby promised her, "and everything will be all right. Everyone's working to help your Uncle. It _will_ be all right, Penny."

And he patted her cold hand and she vaguely nodded, then turned sad eyes back down towards the floor again.

Quimby took in a shaken breath and briefly reached up and wiped a tear from his eye.

"_He'll make it,"_ he said quietly.

And they sat in silence, waiting for news.

_While they waited, Gadget lay on the operating table with his chest open as the best cybernetic surgeons in Riverton worked to remove his damaged human heart, replacing it with his only hope of survival - an artificial, cybernetic heart – it would have been the last thing Gadget would have wanted, but now it was the only chance he had to survive..._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"_Penny?"_

As her name was spoken softly again, Penny dragged herself up from the two seats she had been sleeping on and sat upright, blinking tired eyes.

She looked down the corridor.

Taylor Braydon was talking on a payphone.

Then she turned back to the two people who stood in front of her. Chief Quimby was standing next to the person who had just said her name.

Penny rose from her seat and fixed her anxious gaze on Brenda Bradford, who looked pale and tired.

"How is he, how's my Uncle?" her voice had been hushed, filled with anxiety.

"He made it," Quimby said, and then he turned to Brenda.

"It's late; I'd better get home now. Mrs Quimby was really shaken up by what happened at the party."

Brenda nodded, and Quimby walked off down the corridor.

* * *

"How is he?" Penny said again.

Brenda looked kindly at Penny. None of what she was about to say would be easy to take and the poor girl looked pale, still shocked by what she had witnessed.

"Your Uncle suffered a massive power overload," she told her, "and right now, we don't know why. Taylor's best scientists are working with the Chief's people to try and investigate the cause."

Penny's eyes grew wider.

"You mean this wasn't some kind of system failure?"

Then she drew in a sharp breath as a thought hit her.

"Everything went off, everything was destroyed – the lights, the power...the cell phones - _and_ my Uncle Gadget! Are you saying someone did this on purpose?"

Brenda briefly closed her weary eyes as she shook her head.

"I don't know what to think yet. Let's not think about that now, let's just think about Gadget."

And at the mention of her Uncle's name, Penny shoved thoughts aside of the cause of his injuries and looked anxiously at Brenda once more.

"He's going to be okay, please tell me he's okay..."

"Gadget's human heart suffered terrible damage, Penny. When the connecting wiring suffered the overload his heart was more or less destroyed. But he's had a transplant and the new heart is working well. As soon as the cyborg - human connections are healed, he wont need to be on oxygen any more. You can see him, but not for long because he's deeply unconscious for the next forty-eight hours, that's because we have to replace wiring that's essential to his ability to move and feel - and that kind of surgery would be painful if he was awake. Also he mustn't move for a short time after the treatment, so he's in a drug induced coma. It's not as scary as it sounds, we can bring him out of it when the major repair work is over. The rest of the repairs are for non life threatening injuries, and he will have to have a few surgeries when he's stronger to fix the rest of his human physical damage, and to make some reconnections and replace non working parts. Everything else is painless, replacing wiring and circuits in his robotic body. But we have to fix the most serious injuries first, do you understand?"

Penny nodded. She wanted to cry, partly out of relief to know there was hope and partly because she was devastated to think her Uncle had been so badly injured in the first place.

"I'm so grateful you found a donor so fast," she said, as she tried to focus on what she ought to be thankful for, "I mean, finding a heart so quickly, its like a miracle."

Brenda hesitated.

"No, Penny..." she began carefully, "I couldn't have found a tissue match as fast as that. And due to the kind of damage he sustained, there was no way he could have had another human heart. _We removed the damaged organ and replaced it with an electronic device, a cyborg heart_."

Penny's eyes stung with tears as she began to tremble.

"You took his heart away?" she said tearfully, "No, you _can't _do that to him! _He's human, Brenda, HUMAN!_ Don't you know what you've done? He's human, he's a person, he _needs_ his heart because he's lost so much of his real body...it was his heart...oh God, how could you?"

And Penny gasped a shallow breath as panic threatened to smother her, she gasped again as tears streamed down her face and suddenly the shock was replaced by anger.

"_He...he had no say in this!"_ she yelled, "_Just like before when you turned him into a cyborg! You cut his heart out, you took away my Uncle Gadget's heart!"_

As her voice echoed down the corridor, Taylor Braydon, who had just ended a phone call, turned back and hurried over to where Penny stood yelling at Brenda.

"She cut his _heart_ out!" Penny said tearfully as she looked at Taylor.

Brenda blinked away tears.

"Penny, every surgery your Uncle has ever had has been necessary! He had some terrible injuries in the explosion – if I hadn't made him into the prototype cyborg he would have died! And the same applies to the reason he lost his human heart – it was damaged, he wouldn't have survived a day without the replacement!"

"She's right," Taylor said gently, "and that heart he's got - it was made by my people at my company. It won't let him down; he can live a long life with his new heart."

Penny began to calm down as Taylor's words sunk in, and Brenda blinked away tears.

"I've only ever tried to help him," she told her, "I'm not a butcher, Penny!"

And Penny gave another sob as she looked at one of Gadget's oldest friends and recalled the days when Brenda used to come over and sit on the swing seat on the porch with her arms around Gadget as the two of them looked into each other's eyes. Once, Brenda and her Uncle had been in love. Long ago, Penny had even wondered if they would get married, if Brenda would be the person she ended up calling Mom one day...

It hadn't turned out like that, but all the same, this was Brenda who loved and cared for her Uncle and as she saw hurt in her eyes, she knew she had no right to attack her because of what she had been forced to do, Brenda had just saved his life, and not for the first time, either...

"I'm sorry!" Penny said tearfully, and as she stepped forward she walked into Brenda's open arms, and then cried some more as she embraced her.

As Penny's sobs began to clam down and Brenda spoke quietly to her, Taylor Braydon felt as if he was in the way.

He reached out and tugged at Brenda's lab coat, and as Brenda let go of Penny, and as Penny took a couple of deep breaths and wiped her eyes, Taylor spoke up.

"I have to get back to work," he said to Brenda, "I just heard from my people – they think it may have been caused by an EMP device."

"What's that?" Penny said vaguely, her thoughts still with her Uncle and the fact that she had cried so much her eyes felt sore.

Brenda stared at Taylor.

"Are you sure?"

"Nothing's definite, but if that's the case, we have the means to put together a shield system. I don't have time to explain now, but I'm getting on to that, and then I'm sorting out a match for the optical implants and I'll have them sent over ASAP."

"What are optical implants?" Penny wondered, and Taylor and Brenda exchanged a glance and Taylor checked his watch, keen to make a quick get away before Brenda explained something else that would set Gadget's niece off crying again.

"I'll sort everything out, go home and get some sleep and then I'll call to see how he's doing," Taylor said, "I'll see you later."

And then he turned and walked away, hoping when Brenda explained about the situation with Gadget's eyes, it wouldn't hit Penny too hard...

* * *

As Taylor walked away, Penny looked intently at Brenda.

"What are optical implants?" she said again.

Brenda gestured to the seating area.

"You've been through a lot, Penny. We should sit down and talk about this."

And as Brenda sat down, Penny sat beside her with a questing look in her eyes.

"Is this more bad news?" she said anxiously.

Brenda took a deep breath.

"I need to go a long way back to explain this, Penny," she said gently, "When Gadget was caught in the explosion all those years ago, his optic nerves were destroyed by the force of the blast. Your Uncle's eyes are cybernetic implants, and like every other piece of hardware inside him, the wiring was damaged and we had to remove them. The new implants will exactly match his old ones; his new eyes will look just the same as they always did. But he can't have the eye surgery yet. We have to wait until he's over the heart transplant. For now his eyes are bandaged. When we do wake him, we a re going to say that his implants are damaged and need to be fixed. It's best if he doesn't know we've already taken them out, I know he's going to be very distressed at the loss of his heart, he doesn't need to know his eyes are gone too. Can you understand what I'm trying to say? It's for his own good to spare him that information."

Tears were running down Penny's face again. She nodded.

"I won't tell him," she said in a hushed voice, as she thought of her Uncle Gadget and his sparkling eyes and wondered how she had never noticed they were implants...

"Remember cyborgs heal fast," Brenda added, "A day after he's out of the coma we can fix his eyes for him. He will start to get better fast, Penny. It won't be long before he's recovered. He's got a lot to go through but he _will _come out the other side of this, he's a fighter."

And Penny's eyes filled with tears again as she nodded, but she held back her distress and managed to find her voice once more.

"I want to see him," she said.

Brenda got up and so did Penny and they began to walk down the corridor.

"You can only stay for a little while," Brenda reminded her, "he's having some work done to repair his nervous system very soon. And remember he's unconscious, he won't know you're there."

"But _I_ know I'm here for him," Penny said in a hushed voice.

They stopped outside a door at the end of the corridor and Brenda paused, feeling it was only fair to warn her what to expect.

"He's on life support," she told her, "he will continue to be on it for the next forty-eight hours, but its just a precaution. His new heart is working just fine."

And she opened the door.

Penny stepped inside and stared at her Uncle Gadget. For a moment Brenda wondered if she would break down again, but Penny held back her tears.

"Will you be okay?" Brenda asked gently.

She nodded, and then Brenda stepped out of the room and quietly closed the door.

* * *

Penny took a faltering step towards Gadget's bed, stopped again and took in the sight of her Uncle on the kind of life support equipment that she didn't think a cyborg would ever have needed – he was hooked up to so much intensive care equipment the tubes and lines seemed to swamp him.

She sat down next to his bed.

Gadget had a small dressing over his temple where the wound to his head had been dressed. The skin around it was forming a purple bruise and she recalled he had hit his head as he had fallen to the ground at the Mayor's party.

His eyes were bandaged and he was breathing on oxygen.

Penny reached out and gently gripped his hand, but Gadget gave no response.

Then as he lay there while the machine breathed for him, Penny kept hold of his hand as she quietly wept.

* * *

Brenda Bradford walked away from Gadgets room quickly; her pace almost broke into a run as she turned the corner and reached the office of Doctor Bess Nightingale. As she opened the door Bess woke up sharply and sat up, leaning on the comfortable couch where she had grabbed a few hours sleep after spending half the night in the lab fitting Gadget's new heart.

"What's wrong?" she said anxiously as she got up, feeling cold fear pass through her bones as she caught the look of alarm in Brenda's eyes.

"It's not Gadget, he's stabilized," Brenda said as she closed the door, "Taylor Braydon's people seem to think his injuries were caused by a planned attack. _They think it was an EMP device_."

Bess stared at her as her face paled; she was qualified in both medicine and science just like Brenda and she knew at once what this meant – someone had developed a device capable of knocking out all electrical power instantly - proving fatal to anyone with vital cybernetic organs...

"Are you sure?"

"It's not definite."

Brenda's hand shook as she grabbed the telephone and began to call Chief Quimby's number.

"But I need to speak to the Chief about this - I want guards outside Gadgets door...I want them in the entrance to the building...outside in the parking lot... and across the street, I want an exclusion zone around this hospital!"

Bess shook her head as she thought about what Brenda had said.

"It wouldn't make a difference," she told her, "Oh God, someone could set a device like that off anywhere - it could still reach him if the range was wide enough..."

Brenda caught her breath.

Then the Chief's phone began to ring and he answered it quickly.

"Is Gadget okay, Doctor Nightingale?" He said urgently, "I was told he was out of surgery three hours ago –"

"Gadgets stable, he's on life support but he's doing well. It's me, it's Brenda – I'm on Doctor Nightingale's phone. Taylor Braydon said he thinks this was a deliberate attack –"

"I know," the Chief said gravely, "to be precise, his people have said it looks like a non-nuclear electro magnetic pulse was used. God help us all, whoever has a device like that can kill off the cyborg population at the touch of a button if they want to. I have my officers combing the area but so far they've come up with nothing. I'm going to arrange for everyone at the party to be interviewed, but I don't know if it will help. I was there when it happened and as far as I'm aware, everyone was watching Gadget's speech. I have to speak to the press shortly, but I won't be mentioning the device and I'd appreciate it if you don't say a word either – we can't have this getting out, we'll just make the bastard responsible feel like he's in control."

Brenda gripped the phone tighter.

"Which bastard were you thinking of?" she said in a low voice, as she recalled Sandford Scolex and a shiver ran down her spine.

There was a long pause and then the Chief spoke again.

"_I know it sounds crazy,"_ he said, _"but the only bastard I can think of, who is capable of something like this - is Claw."_

Brenda dragged in a frightened breath as she thought of the terrible injuries Gadget had suffered – she didn't want to think it was possible that Claw was back, yet it seemed to fit together in a logical but terrible way...only Claw would want to inflict such damage on his old enemy...

"I have to go," the Chief said, "I have to speak with the press now."

And he ended the call.

As Brenda put the phone down she looked at Bess with fear in her eyes.

"He said he thinks Claw did this," she said in a hushed voice, "what if he's right? Claw could use it again! Taylor Braydon said something about developing a shield, but I don't think even he could come up with something like that! How the hell can we keep Gadget safe?"

Bess hugged her arms tightly about her body as she shivered and reasoned the fear she felt was purely for Gadget, the man she had come to care for so much. Now he was badly injured and there was no way of knowing if the assailant would strike again.

"I don't know," she replied, "but there _has_ to be a way..."

* * *

Marcia Glass folded her arms tightly and walked over to the window.

She looked out through sheer nets at the sprawling gardens beyond her house and thought about everything she had worked for, everything she had built up – and for what, so Sandford Scolex, now known as Claw, could come along and promise her riches and glory and power – at a cost?

When she had agreed to enter into this alliance she had not fully understood what she was getting into. Now she understood, but it was too late to back out...

She thought back on her life and felt nothing but regret:

_She had wealth._

_She had the big company and the status._

_Wanting more had cost too dearly, and understanding that had come too late..._

"Come here, Marcia!" Claw said excitedly, "Don't miss the show!"

And Marcia turned around and walked slowly across the room.

The TV was on, and as the local news channel switched to an image of Chief Quimby of Riverton Police, Claw leaned back in the comfortable arm chair as he crossed his legs and settled back, glass of wine in his hand as he paused to raise his other arm and watch as his new, shiny pincer revolved silently, smoothly.

He turned it left and right and chuckled.

"I didn't mind the device wrecking the other pincer," he remarked, _"It was worth it to see the look on Gadget's face just before I fried his wiring!"_

Marcia said nothing in reply as she thought about what she had heard earlier on the morning news...a clean kill was something she could have accepted, but not this...the thought of what that device had done to Inspector Gadget filled her with guilt and remorse, and far more than she cared to show.

Claw pointed the TV remote control at the screen and turned up the volume as the reporter turned to Chief Quimby.

"Here we go!" Claw said merrily, and carefully closed his pincer around the wine bottle and refilled his glass before setting the bottle down on the table again and taking another drink.

Chief Quimby listened carefully to the reporters questions, and then paused for thought before he answered.

"At this stage, we can not say for certain what caused the injuries to Inspector Gadget," he replied.

Claw laughed.

"It was _me_, you fool!" he said jovially as he looked back at the TV.

The Chief continued:

"But I can confirm the event of last night caused a massive power surge that blacked out much electrical equipment as well as overloading Gadget's circuitry. That power overload had devastating consequences for the Inspector."

And Claw chuckled.

He briefly glanced at Marcia.

"This is great!" he exclaimed," I _love_ it!"

And he flashed her a bright smile as amusement danced in his eyes and he sipped from his wine glass and turned back to the TV.

Chief Quimby blinked several times as he struggled to keep his composure in front of the camera.

"It's been a shock," he said.

Claw threw his head back and laughed loudly as red wine sloshed about in his glass, splashed out and spotted the arm of the chair.

"_I'd say so!"_ he remarked, _"It certainly was for Inspector Gadget!"_

Marcia felt uncomfortable as she stood there watching Claw laughing as if the news report was the funniest sitcom he had ever seen.

Pain reflected in the Chief's eyes.

"Inspector Gadget is the finest crime fighter Riverton has ever known, he's admired and respected in the community," said Quimby, and Claw blew a raspberry at the screen.

"It's hit us all hard," the Chief added.

Claw threw his head back and laughed again, slapping his thigh and sending more wine spilling on to the sofa.

"It's hit them hard?" he exclaimed, as he took in a breath between his laughter, _"Not as hard as it hit Gadget!"_

As the Chief spoke again, Claw suppressed another fit of giggles in order to hear what was being said, and Marcia stood beside him, thankful his eyes were on the screen and not on her because the more he laughed, the more she felt like throwing up.

"Inspector Gadget sustained terrible injuries," the Chief said, "but he underwent a heart transplant last night and I'm relieved to say it was successful."

And the smile vanished from Claw's face as he scowled at the screen.

"What?" he said sharply, "Well, that's rained on my parade..."

And he took another mouthful of wine as he watched the screen intently.

"Come on," he said with a tone of urgency much like a gambler watching a horse race, "give us some _bad_ news!"

On the TV, the reporter listened as Quimby continued:

"The Inspector is seventy percent cyborg and all of his cyborg functions - some vital to his every day life - were destroyed during the overload. He's now facing surgery to repair his nervous system and other vital functions. And as the situation currently stands, he's unable to see. The overload also blinded him."

That bemused look was back on Claw's face.

"He's blind?" he said as a wide smile spread across his face.

"And what do you personally think may have caused this massive damage to happen in the first place?" the reporter asked the Chief.

Quimby shook his head.

"I wouldn't want to take a guess; this will take time to figure out. We just don't know yet," he replied.

Claw threw his head back and laughed.

"He doesn't know!" he said merrily, as he looked towards the screen, "What's the matter Chief - left you in the _dark_, have I? Not as much in the dark as I've left Gadget! He's blind? Oh, this is _too_ perfect!"

And he laughed heartily again.

The Chief was thanked for his time and the news channel cut to a commercial break.

"It didn't kill him," Marcia said quietly as she stood beside Claw and avoided his gaze, "he's alive and seventy percent of his body is destroyed. That's _not _what we wanted."

Claw leaned back further in the chair, raising his arm as he playfully snapped his pincer open and shut.

"Well, I would have liked to have seen him die," Claw replied, "but perhaps it's better this way, he gets to live with the damage."

And he sipped from the glass again, set it down on the table and his voice darkened as he smiled.

"He has to live with a _lot _of damage," he added,"maybe they can't repair it all. Let's hope so!"

Then he twisted his pincer around, admiring the way the brand new, shiny robotic claw caught the light.

"I might sneak into the cybernetics center and pay him a visit," he said,"bearing in mind he can't see, it should be rather fun!"

"He's just had a heart transplant," Marcia said quietly.

"I'll wait a couple of days," Claw replied, "I want him wide awake for this!"

And he snapped his pincer sharply as he considered his options.

"Cyborgs heal fast," he told her, "I want to get him while he's still down. I do like to be sure I have an unfair advantage."

"And he's blind," Marcia added as she thought about the extent of the damage Claw's weapon had caused, "You blinded him, Claw."

"That was an unexpected bonus," he remarked, "I think I'll make that call to Quimby today. Let's shake up the local law enforcement; they'll be trembling in their boots with me around and Gadget out of action."

Marcia still couldn't look him in the eye as she stood beside him.

"I don't mean to criticise you," she said quietly, "but I wasn't expecting this...it's a mess."

And Claw looked down at the arm of the chair and saw the red wine stain on the pale upholstery.

"I see what you mean, Marcia!" he replied, "but it should lift out..."

She gave a sigh.

"I mean the damage you've just done. It wasn't supposed to happen, was it? So much damage...horrible damage..."

Claw's eyes briefly clouded with confusion, and then as he looked down at his silk shirt and saw the splashes of red wine, he brushed at the stain angrily.

"I couldn't agree more! You're right, it's tragic - I've just ruined a perfectly good shirt!"

And then he got up and left the room.

Marcia stood alone with her regrets as she wished she could turn back the clock – if it were possible, she would have gone back to the day she first met Claw – and walked away from him.

_But it was too late now, the deed was done and there could be no backing out from this alliance..._

* * *

It was late in the afternoon when Quimby made a call from his office and spoke to Brenda Bradford.

The news was good - Gadget's surgery to replace connections vital to his nervous system had been a success. He had also had other essential circuitry and wiring replaced, sparing him the ordeal of having these lengthy procedures after he regained consciousness. He still faced more surgery, but the main wiring was out of the way now.

Quimby had listened as Brenda explained his eye surgery was expected to take place within the next two days, and he thanked her for the information and then hung up, and gave a weary sigh as he thought about coffee but changed his mind, because the sight of the cold cup he had left on his desk earlier put him off the idea.

He glanced up at the clock and remembered Taylor Braydon was due at his office in ten minutes.

Quimby had decided to start tracking down and interviewing all the guests from the party as soon as possible, and although it was really a task for his officers, he wanted to be directly involved.

The more he thought about Gadget's injuries, the more angry he felt and the more he wanted to be involved in the case as much as possible, even if it meant doing work that was supposed to be handed to others.

He had decided to take on the task of interviewing everyone who had been on table number one – starting with Taylor Braydon, even though he guessed Taylor wouldn't have anything helpful to say because surely if he did, he would have thought to say it on the night Gadget was rushed into the cybernetics center, but all the same, he wanted to go by the book...

His thoughts were still on Taylor as the phone rang.

He lifted it up and said _Quimby._

"Sir I have an urgent call for you," said the switchboard operator, "there's a gentleman on the line who says he has some information about what happened at the Mayor's house. He won't give his name."

The Chief clutched at the phone tighter as he gave his reply.

"Put him through."

The call was transferred at once.

"This is Chief Quimby," he said, "I understand you have some information for me?"

"Hello Chief!" hissed a familiar voice.

Quimby drew in a sharp breath as he began to break out in a cold sweat.

He recalled his conversation with Brenda Bradford and his blood turned to ice...he had been right, only one bastard could have caused such terrible injuries to Inspector Gadget...and that bastard was on the phone right now:

_That bastard was Claw._

He laughed darkly at the Chief's shocked silence.

"That's right," he said "Claw speaking. Did you enjoy my little demonstration of power at the Mayor's party? I would have walked in through the front entrance, but I didn't have an invitation. No matter...I've been to much better parties than the kind of shambles Mayor Wilson likes to throw! Who in their right mind strings up blue and green lanterns, anyway? They clashed in the most frightful manner. And I didn't care much for her speech, either. _And_ _Gadget's speech was lousy_."

Then Claw laughed.

"_He didn't even finish it!"_

Anger blazed in Quimby's eyes as he wished he could reach down the phone and strangle Claw for what he had done.

"You won't get away with this, I'll track you down and –"

"Slow down, Chief," Claw said in a bemused voice,"You won't be doing anything to me. Not if you want me to refrain from using my weapon again. It's a device that emits a pulse known as EMP...you might want to write that down, because it's rather important. And you can expect more devastation from my toy because this is just the start - unless you agree to send a message to the cybernetics industries of the world and tell them to hand over the sum total of their current net worth and transfer their companies into the name _Sandford Scolex_..."

"No one will give in to your blackmail!" the Chief fumed, "And I'm having this call traced –"

Claw laughed again.

"You won't be able to trace it!" he replied, "I'll be in touch again soon."

And the call cut off.

Quimby drew in a shocked breath as a trickle of sweat ran down his face.

He knew Claw was right; tracing the call would be a pointless task – he was too good at covering his tracks, that call would be untraceable.

Quimby's next thought was what to do:

_Claw was back, he needed to call Inspector Gadget._

_But Gadget was in the hospital on life support because of Claw.._.

The Chief made a decision at once – _this news could not get out._

If word got around that Claw was back, without Gadget to go after him, the whole of Riverton would be thrown into panic.

He decided his next action would be to arrange a meeting with his finest officers and explain the situation.

And then there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Quimby said, as he hastily wiped sweat from his face and tried to banish the name _Claw_ from his thoughts, at least for now...

* * *

The door opened and Taylor Braydon walked in.

He gave the Chief a big smile as he sat down.

"Hi Chief," he said brightly, "I'm not sure what I can do for you, but I'm here to answer your questions."

And Quimby's thoughts were still shaken up. His organised day had fallen into chaos and behind that chaos, the shadow of Claw lurked – but he was the only one who knew that and as he looked back at Taylor, he realized this was yet another occasion where he had to hold himself together and keep his true emotions in check. It had been tough enough speaking on the news report without shedding a tear as he thought of Gadget; now he had to behave as if nothing was wrong in front of Taylor Braydon; he had to pretend the call from Claw had never happened.

_It couldn't get out. _

_This news would terrify the people of Riverton..._

The_ Chief needed to spare them that fear, he was here to protect and serve this town and even if it meant withholding certain facts from the public, he was determined to do it no matter how he felt about being less than honest. But the one person he couldn't hide the truth from was himself; he was terrified:_

_Claw was back._

_Claw was back and Gadget was not around to fix the situation..._

Taylor was staring at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, "I don't know if you know it or not, but you're really sweating!"

The Chief took in a deep breath and focussed on Taylor.

"Am I? It must be a little too warm in here."

Taylor cautiously sniffed, and then he smiled.

"But you don't smell!" he assured him, "That's good; people with sweat problems should always wear effective deodorant."

Taylor's remark distracted him from the lurking thoughts of Claw.

"I just wanted to ask you about the night of the party," he said, eager to get this over with, because he had far more urgent matters to deal with than speaking to Taylor Braydon, a man known for his wealth and power in the cybernetics Industry – who, despite his status in society, was not especially bright...

"Well, it was just a party," Taylor told him, "I didn't notice anything, even when the power went off, and then all I was thinking about was making that call to fetch help for Gadget."

And then Taylor looked into his eyes asked a question:

"Have you had any leads? My people seem to think it was an EMP device."

The Chief felt a spike of fear run through him as he thought again about Claw's words.

"I'll have to ask you to keep that information confidential," he said, "My officers are investigating the case now - and we don't want information like that becoming public. The cybernetics industry has boomed in the last decade and if it got out that someone could be using a weapon that's capable of the instant destruction of life saving robotic parts –"

"There would be a huge panic!" Taylor agreed, and the Chief breathed a relieved sigh to know that Taylor understood he had to keep quiet about this matter.

"So you didn't notice anything odd that night?" The Chief asked him, sliding back to the few brief questions he needed to ask, so that he could get Taylor out of his office and then concentrate on handling the Claw crisis.

Taylor shook his head.

"It was just a party, like I said before."

"Then I don't need to ask you any more questions, you can go, Taylor."

"I was hoping I might be able to help," he replied with a disappointed look on his face.

The Chief gave a sigh.

"But you can't help if you didn't _see_ anything!"

"But I _want_ to help, Gadget is my friend!"

The Chief looked at a pencil lying on top of a stack of paperwork and felt sure if he snapped it in half, Taylor Braydon would be that little bit easier handle...

"I said you can go," he replied as his voice filled with tension.

"But I _really _wanted to help with your questions, I was hoping there might be something I know, but I didn't actually know I knew it - and then when I told you, you would _know_ I knew it and then you would have your answers!"

And his eyes lit up hopefully as the Chief stared at him.

"What?"

"Well, if I know something, but don't know that I know it -"

The Chief held up his hand and resisted the urge to yell at him.

"Taylor, unless you saw something or experienced something out of the ordinary, or thought something was strange or suspicious that night, I really don't need to question you any further."

Suddenly the look in Taylor's eyes changed.

"Strange?" he wondered, "You mean like, disturbing, or unexpected?"

The Chief looked intently at Taylor.

"Yes, that's what I'm talking about. Did you have a strange or disturbing experience at the party, Taylor?"

As he asked that question, fear flashed in Taylor's eyes and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Well, yeah... I did."

And he fell silent again, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly as he looked back at the Chief.

"What happened, Taylor?" Quimby asked him gently, "It's okay, this could have a bearing on the investigation. Just tell me _exactly_ what happened."

Taylor hesitated.

"Um...it's not easy to talk about. I mean I wasn't expecting it...not from the person who did it!"

The Chief thought about the case and wondered if perhaps Taylor Braydon did have some useful information after all.

"What happened?" he asked him.

"It was under the table," Taylor said in a hushed voice.

"What was?" the Chief asked him.

Taylor swallowed hard and took in another deep breath.

"Mayor Wilson's hand! But I thought she thought it was _her _leg, and she got mine by mistake! But it _wasn't_ a mistake, she slid her hand up my thigh and then she squeezed my –"

"Get out of my office!" The Chief said sharply, aware that his temper was rising as his face grew scarlet and his patience ran out.

Taylor jumped up from his seat.

"But you said, did something disturbing and unexpected happen? Yes Chief, it did! That's what happened...she just went straight in there and squeezed!"

The Chief glared at him.

"_GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!" _he yelled, _"Get out now, I don't have time for this crap!"_

A look of panic flashed in Taylor's eyes again.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I was just trying to help because you said –"

"_OUT!"_ the Chief yelled again as his face burned up with angry heat.

As Taylor Braydon hurried out and shut the door heavily behind him, Quimby gave an exhausted sigh.

Then he picked up the phone and began to make arrangements for an urgent meeting, because he knew he couldn't afford to waste any more time, not when a maniac like Claw was out there somewhere...


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_Someone was softly saying his name._

Gadget turned his head.

Every part of his body ached, from the human to the cyborg connections deep inside him.

There was a vague ache around the left side of his chest, too, and breathing seemed to feel a little tight.

Then someone touched a small device behind his human ear and as sound amplified, he realised the hearing in his cyborg ear was gone.

He tried to open his eyes and saw nothing, yet felt something wrapped around him, covering his eyes...a blindfold?

He thought about the party.

No. Mayor Wilson didn't play those kind of party games...and even if she did, he certainly wouldn't be playing them with her...

"_Gadget?"_

Now he could hear her much better, and he turned his head again, feeling frustrated that he couldn't see.

"Brenda?" he said anxiously, taking in a tight breath,"What's wrong with me?"

Gadget sounded frightened and Brenda gently took hold of his hand as she sat beside his bed.

"Something happened at the party. You suffered a massive power overload and took a lot of internal damage. Most of it, the essential wiring, has been repaired now. Your eyes need some new wiring and your hearing needs to be fixed. That's getting done tomorrow."

Gadget took in a shaky breath, and then another as his hand trembled in Brenda's grip.

"I can't see..."

He tried to breathe and felt as if the air just wouldn't reach his lungs.

Gadget gave a stifled sob and then fought against a wave of panic as his chest ached.

He reached up, pushing the sheets down as he felt the dressing that covered his chest.

_"W...what's wrong with me? I can't...can't breathe!"_

He heard a gentle hiss of air and Brenda placed the oxygen mask over his face.

"Take some slow, deep breaths," she said, reaching for his hand and guiding it up to the mask.

As Gadget began to breathe and take in the air he needed, he began to relax and was able to hold the mask over his face without help.

"Better?" Brenda asked him.

Gadget nodded as he took in another lungful of air.

"Do I have to keep this on?" he asked through the mask.

"No, you can stop now," Brenda told him, "it's just there for when you feel short of breath. This isn't a permanent thing; you'll feel a lot better by the end of the day."

Gadget lowered the mask and took in another breath, feeling glad his breathing now seemed easier.

"What happened last night?" he said.

"That was three days ago," Brenda said, "We had to keep you sedated for forty-eight hours. You've had major heart surgery. The wiring to your heart overloaded and caused a lot of damage."

And she gripped his hand a little tighter.

"You've had transplant, you've got a new heart. We had no choice, it was the only way to save your life."

Gadget took in a sharp breath and then remembered to try and stay calm because if he got even the slightest worked up, the tightness came back into his chest.

"A new heart?"

Brenda paused. His hand was still shaking in her grip. She leaned closer and gently stroked his hair.

"I need to explain what's happened. Your heart was severely damaged. We couldn't stabilize you so we had no choice but to remove it. Your new heart is cybernetic."

"My _heart's_ gone?" Gadget's voice trembled as he spoke.

And then he began to cry and Brenda carefully put her arms around him, and let him weep against her shoulder.

As Brenda held him he shifted back a little and gave another sob.

"I always thought, as long as I had my _own_ heart –"

"You're _still_ human, Gadget!" Brenda promised him, wiping away a tear that had run down from behind the bandages that covered his eyes, "This was a life saving procedure. We had no choice. But the good news is, you're out of danger now. Most of the repair work you now need is non surgical. And you're a cyborg - you'll heal fast. It won't be long before you can go home to Penny."

Tears still glistened on his face as he turned his head to towards the sound of Brenda's voice.

"Is she okay, has she been worried? Tell her I'm okay..."

Gadget's voice was still unsteady and tearful, but as he mentioned his concern for his niece, Brenda felt sure he was on the road to recovery, he was already thinking of his niece before his own situation, and that was typical of Gadget to put others first...

"She's fine, she was upset when it happened but she's going to be so happy you're awake now. Try not to get upset in front of her; she cried a lot when you collapsed. She just wants her Uncle Gadget back."

Gadget felt his breathing tighten up and he rested heavily against soft pillows as he tried to hold back his tears.

"Can't you take these bandages off my eyes? I just want to see -"

He was reaching for the bandage.

Brenda caught his hand and drew it away from his face, and continued to gently hold his hand again.

"You have to keep your eyes covered," she said, "because of the damage to the wiring...I'll explain after you've had the repair work done."

Gadget gave a weary sigh.

"I hurt all over, my body feels like lead!"

"That's because the new wiring is starting to heal to the human connections – that's a good thing. The pain won't last for long."

Gadget cautiously shifted position, and drew in a sharp breath that didn't seem to catch properly and he groped blindly for the oxygen, and as his fingers closed over the mask, he quickly put it over his nose and mouth, breathing in heavily.

"Gadget?" Brenda said gently, "What's the matter? Talk to me and try and stay calm, it's going to be okay."

He took in some more oxygen and lowered the mask again

"I can't move my legs properly!"

"That's because your wiring is healing into the human connections, I just explained that. You have to rest, and it's going to be a few more days - then you can go home and Penny can take care of you. "

Then Brenda smiled and even though Gadget couldn't see her, he heard warmth in her voice as she added:

"And Bess is going to come over and see you every day to make sure you're healing. She likes you a lot, Gadget. She's relieved you're getting better too – we all are."

Gadget managed a smile at the thought of Bess. But then his smile faded.

"Bess still wants to see me? I would have thought she's seen enough of me with all the repairs I've needed...I'm surprised she still wants to see me at all!"

Brenda gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"She knows you're the prototype, she knows all about how you need regular repairs and upgrades. This makes no difference at all – you had a crisis and she's trained to get you through that just like I am. And she's crazy about you, Gadget!"

Gadget smiled again and seeing that warmed Brenda's heart.

"I like her too," he replied.

And in that moment as he thought of Bess, his mood lifted.

"She's on shift later," Brenda told him, "I know the first thing she'll want to do is come and see you."

"Shame I can't see her!" Gadget replied, "Can't you just take the bandages off for a while, Brenda? You can darken the room, I'm sure that will be okay for my eyes, I just want to be able to see a little, even if my wiring's faulty."

Brenda took in a deep breath. She considered the way he had broken down on learning of the loss of his human heart and decided to stay quiet about his eyes; tomorrow Gadget would have new implants and never know his old ones had needed to be removed...

"I can't do that, Gadget," she said gently, "you can't tolerate any amount of light at the moment, its important to keep your eyes protected, that's why you have the bandage."

Gadget gave a sigh.

"Okay," he replied sadly, "I just want to see everyone again, I hate being like this."

"It's only until tomorrow," she reminded him, "it's just one day and then you'll be feeling a lot better and your eyes will be working just fine."

Gadget settled back against the pillows and took in a much easier breath.

"I have to go now," Brenda said, "but if you need anything there's a call button on the left side of the bed. I'm off to call Penny and give her the good news that you're awake. She's going to be so happy, Gadget."

And Gadget smiled as he rested on the soft pillows.

He listened for the sound of her footsteps to fade, and then the door closed.

Gadget's smile was gone as he cautiously brought his hand up to the dressing that covered his chest, and then he felt a wave of grief hit him for the loss of his human heart, and he wept all over again.

* * *

Penny was sat in the driver's seat of the Gadget Mobile.

As the engine purred, she keyed in the security code to release the lock down on the car's independent personality, and then she grabbed the small connecting wire and shoved it back in place.

The screen lit up at once as the computerized face looked up at her.

"Penny!" said the car, recognising the lean, muscular young woman who was in the drivers seat.

"Where's Gadget?" the car added.

Then the face on the screen blinked, flipped over and over and its eyes grew wider.

"What's with my tracking system? Is it down? How can that be, I _always _know where Gadget is!"

"My Uncle suffered a serious power overload," she told the car, "it knocked a lot of his systems out. It was bad, they even had to replace his heart. I don't think his gadgets or the rest of his non essential functions will be up and running for quite a while."

And she blinked away tears, her tough exterior suddenly cracking all over again.

"We almost lost him, Gadget Mobile!"

"Where is he?" the car said urgently.

"At the cybernetics centre."

"I want to see him right now!" Gadget Mobile demanded.

Penny raised a smile as she heard such urgency in the car's voice.

"And how do you propose to do that, drive through the entrance, squeeze into the elevator and then drive down the corridor to his room?"

"Okay, so that's plan A out the window," said the Gadget Mobile, "But maybe I could drive by and sound the horn or - "

"He's resting," Penny explained, "he's getting better but it's going to take time. That's why I'm here, I'm taking you home, I know Gadget will be pleased to see you parked in the usual place when he's well enough to come home."

And she was about to back the car up to turn around and leave the driveway, but then her phone rang. She snatched it up quickly almost hitting the wrong button to answer, because she was using her very old spare cell phone to replace the one destroyed on the night the party, and she wasn't used to going back to the old keys yet.

"Who is it?" the car asked her.

Penny waved her hand at the screen, her way of telling the Gadget Mobile to shut up.

She listened. Then she smiled, and as she spoke her voice was filled with relief.

"Oh thank you, Brenda!" she said warmly "I'm on my way, I'll be there in half an hour!"

And she ended the call and smiled down at the screen.

"That was Brenda," she said happily, "My Uncle Gadget's awake at last! I can't wait to see him - I'm going to give him the biggest hug he's ever had!"

And she turned the car around and left the Mayor's garden, heading out on to the road, starting off on the drive towards Riverton cybernetics center.

* * *

Brenda had looked in on Gadget to give him the news that his niece would be over to see him very soon.

But as she opened the door she saw he was was sleeping, so she quietly closed it again and went on her way, feeling sure Gadget would be happy to wake up and find his niece at his bedside.

As she got into the elevator, her thoughts were with what a tiring time she had been through over the crisis with Gadget. She was thankful it was over, that he was recovering, and she wanted to go home and catch upon more sleep...

_And as the elevator slid shut and began to descend, Claw stepped out of a shadowy corner by the fire escape._

He glanced around, then walked briskly down the corridor, turning his face away from the security camera as he passed it.

Getting in had been easy – a fake ID along with hiding his pincer out of sight - and no one had any reason to suspect a thing...

He smirked as he walked along thinking it had been so very, very easy – no one expected him to turn up here, at the cybernetics center...

Then paused outside the door at the end of the corridor as he stifled a chuckle. The staff here were so friendly and helpful to have pointed him towards Inspector Gadget's room, believing he was a concerned colleague...

Marcia had stayed at home, voicing concerns about his little plan.

For one disappointing moment, he had wondered if she felt sorry for Gadget, and he considered perhaps he ought to get rid of her, just to be on the safe side...but then she had quickly explained that she was concerned simply because he was Claw, and if he was recognized, he could wind up in trouble and she didn't want him to get caught.

He smiled as he felt flattered to think the woman cared so much for his liberty...but the urge to torment Gadget was simply too great to resist...

And then Claw quietly went into Gadgets room, closing the door behind him.

* * *

As the door closed, Gadget woke up with a jolt.

"Who's there?" he asked, taking in a tightening breath as he reached for the oxygen and took in a deep breath.

As he lowered the mask he listened, hearing no more sound.

Yet he was certain someone had just come into his room...

"Brenda?" Gadget said, trying to fight against the urge to panic because he knew it would leave him fighting for air, and the thought that he was unable to see frightened him more than he wanted to think about...

"Is _anybody_ there?" he said nervously.

Then he heard a footfall, and then another, someone was walking slowly towards his bed, the footsteps sounded heavy, the sound of those steps across the floor carried back to him and made him think of expensive, polished shoes...the kind that ...

_No. It couldn't be..._

"Who's there?" Gadget said again, and this time his voice was unsteady as fear began to swallow him up.

He leaned against the pillows and pulled himself up as much as his weak body would allow, turning his head left and right as he wished he could see...

In his current weakened state, all he could do was listen with the limited hearing he had in his human ear, and as he listened, he still couldn't pinpoint how close the intruder was to his bed.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

_Claw was right at his bedside now._

He smiled as he watched Gadget turning his head left and right, with bandages covering his eyes, as he nervously demanded to know who had just entered the room.

Then Claw slowly reached out, keeping his pincer a fraction away from Gadget's human ear.

_SNAP, SNAP, SNAP!_

The sound of the pincer gave Gadget sharp jolt and he stifled a cry of alarm as he fought for breath, and then with a shaking hand grabbed the mask and drew in more oxygen.

Claw let him breathe in the air, barely able to resist the urge to laugh aloud as Gadget lowered the oxygen and took in another breath, this time breathing rather uneasily without the mask.

"_What was that?"_ he said nervously.

Claw leaned in, close to his human ear and what little hearing he still had, so close Gadget could feel the heat of his breath on his skin:

"It's me, Gadget, its Claw. I'm sorry my weapon didn't kill you, but I have to blame the fact that two cybernetic surgeons were on the scene at the time – just my luck! But I've brought my little device with me today, and guess what? I'm going to use it again. I think in your current state it won't take much to finish you off..."

Gadget was gasping for breath, his healing body unable to keep up with his need for deeper breaths.

His shaking hand fumbled about for the oxygen but Claw picked up the mask and shifted it further down the bed, out of Gadget's reach.

He smiled as Gadget lay there, blinded and fighting for air as he trembled in fear.

_"No...Please..."_ Gadget begged breathlessly. _"Don't...do it...don't kill me..."_

"Its over for you," Claw remarked, "My electro magnetic pulse destroyed your cyborg body. Look at you now, you're just a mess! That's all you ever were after the explosion – a cripple surgically attached to cyborg machinery, but now you're just a cripple! Admit it, Gadget - this war is over - and _I_ win!"

Gadget was fighting for breath again, he was shaking and as he turned his head towards the sound of Claw's voice, he sobbed in fear.

Claw gave a low chuckle.

"You need to listen _very _carefully, he said coldly, "because the next time I throw the switch, you'll be hit with a second blast from the EMP device. I guarantee in your current state, it _is_ enough to finish you off."

Gadget was trembling. His body was weak and felt like lead, he was unable to move, unable to access his gadgets and unable to see his enemy.

He thought of Penny and Bess and gave another sob.

"Please don't do this," he begged tearfully as he fought to take in a breath through the tight ache in his healing chest.

Claw stepped backwards quietly, over to the doorway.

"I'm just going to open the door, " he told him, "I want to make sure I've got this thing lined up to hit you perfectly... keep listening, when you hear me flick the switch, you're dead, have you got that?"

Gadget was trembling as he fought for air and tears ran down his face through the wet bandages that covered his eyes.

Claw stifled a giggle as he lingered in the open doorway.

"Listen, Gadget...you'll hear a click. It's the very last thing you'll _ever_ hear right before you die. And I'm going to do it now, after a count of three..."

Gadget was still shaking and weeping as he tried to breathe.

"One," Claw said, smiling as amusement danced in his eyes, "Two... Are you listening, Inspector Gadget? We're almost there...Three!"

Gadget drew in sharp, difficult breaths as he waited for the device to go off.

"Good night." Claw said coldly, and reached for the wall and loudly snapped off the light switch.

Then as Gadget cried out in horror and fought for air, Claw laughed quietly, hurried from his room and sneaked away via the fire escape.

* * *

Bess Nightingale had just heard the buzzer go off, the call was coming from Gadgets room.

It didn't go off once, it went off over and over and over again...

Bess ran from her office and down the corridor.

Gadget's door was wide open and as she entered the room she stared, wondering what had happened in here:

He was shaking and sobbing and fighting for air.

"It's okay, Gadget," she said, then she wondered why the room was so dark.

"Who turned off the light?" she asked, flicking the switch on the wall, and then she lifted the oxygen and carefully administered it as Gadget fought to get his breath back.

As she sat on the edge of the bed he shifted closer to her, needing the comfort of her nearness.

"I thought he was going to kill me..."he said shakily, "he claimed he had another device...he told me he was going to flick a switch...I heard him do it..."  
And he gave anther sob.

Bess put her arms around him and helped him to sit up, but as he did so, he half leaned on to the pillows and then clung to her, afraid to be alone again.

"Gadget," Bess said gently as she kept her arm around him, "are you sure this wasn't a nightmare? You have been through quite an ordeal. No one would think less of you if you had a bad dream."

Gadget turned his head, leaning closer to the sound of her voice.

"He was here," he insisted, "he told me, he tried to kill me at the Mayor's party. I remember now, I saw him there while I was giving my speech! And he said he was going to use the device again..."

"What device?" Bess asked him, and his reply chilled her blood:

"His new weapon," Gadget said shakily, "Its called an EMP device..."

Bess took in a shocked breath.

"I believe you," she said in a hushed voice, "I believe Claw was here. Why did he come back and frighten you like this? Oh, he's a _sick_ bastard!"

And then she gently embraced Gadget, who was still tearful and slightly trembling.

Then Penny walked through the door and as she saw her Uncle leaning against Bess, she noticed he was trembling.

"Uncle Gadget?" she said in alarm, "What's the matter?"

And Bess was about to explain, but Gadget quickly turned his head in her direction. _"Don't tell her,"_ he said quietly, and Bess got up and stepped back from his bedside.

"I'll be along later to talk to you about what we're going to do next," she told him, and hoped Gadget understood.

"Thanks," he said, and Bess knew for sure, he had got it – they would talk about this after Penny had left, because he wanted to keep his niece out of this, he wanted to keep her safe and far from trouble...

* * *

As Bess left the room, Penny gently took hold of Gadget's hands.

It broke her heart to see his eyes bandaged and to think he faced more surgery to fix his blindness, but he was recovering now and she was thankful for that. All the life support equipment was gone and he was no longer connected to any lines or tubes.

He was weak and as he sat up, leaning against pillows, she saw the covers were folded down to his waist and a dressing covered his chest. The smaller dressing that had been over the cut to his temple was off now, and the wound healing well as the bruise began to fade.

She recalled those words Brenda had spoken and as they came back to her, they gave her great comfort: _Cyborgs heal quickly..._

"How are you?" she asked softly.

"I'm going to be okay," Gadget promised her, "don't worry about me, Penny."

And Penny wished the bandages were off and his new eyes were already fixed in place, because she wanted to look into his eyes deeply and demand to know what he had been sharing with Bess Nightingale – it seemed as if something had frightened him, yet he wasn't about to explain it...

"Have you been crying?" she asked him, noticing tear stains on his face just below the bandage that covered his eyes.

"I had a bad dream," Gadget replied, "but I'm fine now. And I'll be even better tomorrow, after get my eyes fixed. I wish I could take this dressing off, but Brenda said I mustn't let any light in until the wiring has been replaced."

Penny blinked away tears as she tried not to think about the fact that her Uncle's damaged cyborg eyes had already been removed.

"I know," she said, "you have to keep the bandages on. Tomorrow you won't need them any more; you'll have your eyes back just the way the used to be."

And then as Gadget turned his head slightly, she wondered if she had said too much.

"What do you mean, like they _used_ to be?"

"I meant working as well as before," Penny said quickly, "That's all I meant..."

Gadget felt uneasy about asking the next question, but he guessed Penny would tell him anything if he wanted to know, because she was his niece, they had a close bond, and he was sure she wouldn't keep anything from him.

"Would you please tell me something, Penny?"

As she heard the need in his voice she felt her heart becoming heavier; she knew she couldn't lie to him again if he asked another question about his eyes...

Gadget tightened his grip on her hands as he turned towards her and leaned a little closer.

"Penny," he said, "I really need an answer to this... I want you to promise me you'll tell me the truth."

"Of course I will," Penny replied, and as she gave that promise, she knew she could now give him nothing but total honesty.

"What exactly _is_ the damage to my eyes?" he asked her.

And Penny looked away from him as she blinked and wiped away tears; even though he couldn't see her, she didn't want him to know she was crying, because he needed strength around him, he deserved strength and love and all the good and positive things that would help him to recover...he didn't need this, his niece crying like a frightened child because her Uncle Gadget had suffered life threatening damage to the internal wiring he depended on to survive...

"Penny," he said again, "Please tell me, because I remember, I felt something blow out behind my eyes and that's a pretty serous thing to happen to a cyborg, honey. So could you please tell me what's going on, because if it was just wiring, I wouldn't have had the flash at the back of my eyes. _I think the artificial optic nerves overloaded. I think my cybernetic eyes were destroyed and Brenda had to take them out. _I can handle it – I don't want to think about it, but I can handle it because I know I'm getting my eyes repaired tomorrow, so I just want the truth."

Penny kept a firm grip on her Uncle's hand.

"She said she had to take your optical implants out because of damage. You're getting new eyes fitted tomorrow. Brenda didn't want you to know, in case it was too much for you to think about."

Gadget gave a sigh.

"Brenda was trying to be thoughtful," he said, "but these bandages are very uncomfortable."

And he reached up and began to unwrap the dressing that covered his eyes.

"Uncle Gadget, I don't think you should that..." Penny began, but then she fell silent as she wondered why she had said that, was it because she didn't want him thinking about it, or because she didn't want to see what he looked like without his eyes?

Gadget unwrapped the last of the bandage and then turned his head away from Penny as he held his hand out to her.

"I'm hoping you've got you sunglasses in your purse, the ones with the black lenses, the ones I've borrowed off you before on very bright days?"

"Sure," Penny replied and she reached into her purse and handed him the glasses.

Gadget put them on and then turned back in her direction.

"I feel much better now," he said, and managed a smile.

Penny blinked back tears; seeing him in those black lenses reminded her of fun times they had spent together over countless summers. If she hadn't known his eyes were missing, in those dark glasses, he looked as if nothing was wrong...

"You look like you again," she said, and as he heard her voice choke up with tears Gadget gave her a hug.

"I never stopped being me," he reminded her, "I'm a cyborg and everything that's broken or gone can be replaced. I want you to remember that, I want you to go home and sleep well and remember everything's going to be fine. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course I can," she replied, and he gave her another hug.

"That's what I like to hear, Penny," he said warmly, "I want you to stay positive, there's no point being any other way."

"You're right," she replied, and suddenly the pain and the broken feeling deep inside her seemed to shift to a level that was bearable; if he could cope at a time like this, then Penny knew she could too – she had to, because to do anything less wouldn't be fair on her Uncle Gadget...

* * *

Penny left Gadget's room an hour later, when he fell asleep. She had lightly kissed his cheek and then left the room and walked alone down the corridor, keeping firm in her determination that she would not break down and cry again. Her Uncle was showing amazing strength and courage in such a difficult situation, and she vowed to remember that as she took the elevator to the ground floor and then left the building and got back into the Gadget Mobile.

As soon as she got into the car, the face on the screen looked at her anxiously.

"How's Gadget?"

"He's doing very well," Penny replied, "He's being very strong and brave, but that's what he's like. And I'm going to be strong too."

The computerized face looked up at her as its eyes grew wider.

"You'll need to be! While you were in there with Gadget, I was listening to the police radio - Quimby has his guys out on a man hunt!"

Penny stared at the screen.

"Who are they looking for?"

"Claw!" The car replied, "Listen up Penny, this is bad news...they're saying what happened at the party was a deliberate attack, by Claw with an EMP device!"

The name _Claw_ had set her heart racing as old fears tugged her between fight or flight. Then she thought of her Uncle, who had always been there for her, the man who had put her life back together after violence had shattered it and seen the loss of her parents, and strength and anger rose up in Penny.

"I've heard that phrase before," she said, "Gadget Mobile, search your records...what does EMP mean?"

The face on the screen did a flip and blinked and then fixed her with a wide-eyed gaze.

"I don't need to search my records, Penny! A non-nuclear electro magnetic pulse can be summed up in two words: Electrical Armageddon! One blast and it can kill all electrical function stone cold dead! That's what happened to Gadget! And the cops are saying it was Claw, they're combing Riverton for him!"

"Are you sure about this?" Penny said.

"As sure as I'm the smartest car in this town!" replied the Gadget Mobile.

And then a fleet of police cars turned the corner and Penny stared as eight officers went into the cybernetics building.

Then the Chief's car turned up and he got out looking tense.

As he spotted Penny sitting in the driver's seat of the Gadget Mobile, he turned from the entrance to the cybernetics center and walked over to the parked car.

"What's going on, Chief?" Penny demanded.

The Chief saw determination burning in her eyes and he knew that look too well; Penny had always been determined to get involved when there was a case to solve, in that way, she hadn't changed since she was a kid... But Brenda had reported Claw's visit to Gadget and added that Gadget wanted to keep his niece as far away from trouble as possible, so he looked into her eyes and lied through his teeth.

"Nothing's going on, Penny. This is just a precautionary measure. Because we're not sure what happened to Gadget to cause such serious injuries, we've decided to post a few armed officers at the cybernetics center...nothing heavy, just a couple of men outside Gadget's room, two more by the elevator...some down stairs at the entrance...its just to ensure your Uncle's safety as he recovers."

Penny looked at him doubtfully.

"And it's nothing for you to worry about, it's just for his peace of mind," he added.

"I heard a rumor that Claws back," Penny said.

And the Chief looked at Penny and remembered this tough, tanned, muscular woman who spent her spare time at the gym and her working day teaching self defence classes, had once been that same little girl who followed her Uncle Gadget around every where, wanting to be a detective just like him.

He didn't doubt that Penny could handle herself; she could do more than that – he had once asked her to do a demonstration of her tactics for some of his officers, and Penny's high-aimed, hard as granite kick had accidentally fractured a man's jaw.

But the business with Claw was a police matter and Penny was _not_ a cop.

There was also the fact that Gadget had asked him to try and keep Penny away from danger, and Quimby felt he owed him that much after all he had been through.

"It's just a rumor," the Chief replied, "I don't want you going on some crazy wild goose chase, Penny. Ignore what you hear unless it comes from me. Have you got that?"

Penny looked at the Chief and nodded, keeping back the urge to tell him she would do as she damned well pleased, because she wanted Claw to pay for what he had done, and if Quimby's men couldn't find him, she would do it for them - and she'd drag his sorry ass back to jail by herself, if that was what it took to make him pay for what he had done to Gadget...

"I guess you're right," she replied, "I'll forget about the rumors."

The Chief smiled.

"Good girl," he said fondly, "now why don't you go off home and take Brain for a walk, clear your head a little? It's been a difficult time for all of us. You need to be thinking about your Uncle, he's coming home pretty soon and he's going to need you to take care of him while he gets better."

The look in Penny's eyes softened as she thought of Gadget coming back home. The way she felt about all he had been through made her want to shut him the house, wrap him in a soft blanket and keep him safe forever, even though she knew he would never allow her to do any such thing.

"I'm looking forward to having him home again," she said, and smiled.

The Chief smiled back at her.

"Well it's been nice talking to you, Penny. I have to go now; I said I'd stop by and pay your Uncle a visit. Drive carefully."

"I sure will," she replied sweetly, and started up the engine and drove away from the cybernetics building.

* * *

As the car turned the corner, the Gadget Mobile spoke up.

"_You just lied to the Chief!"_

"You bet I did," Penny replied as she turned on to the open road.

"What's next?" the car asked her, "You look like you have a plan."

Penny's eyes were set on the road.

"I do have a plan," she told the car, "Like I said to the Chief, I'm going home, I'm taking Brain for a walk and then I'm giving him his dinner."

"That's all?" the Gadget Mobile said in surprise.

A faint smile played about Penny's lips as the car picked up speed and the wind blew her honey colored hair back and determination burned in her eyes.

"No, that's not all," she added, "I'm feeding Brain and then you and me are going for a drive – I'm going to find Claw, I'm going to hunt that son-of a-bitch down and drag him back to jail even if I have to tie him to your rear bumper to get him there!"

Her gaze was still fixed on the road ahead as her eyes blazed with anger as she thought of Claw and the pain he had caused.

"_I'll find him, Gadget Mobile,"_ she said quietly, _"I'll be the one who takes him down. That bastard's mine..."_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Brain wagged his tail as he ate from the dog bowl.

Penny crossed the room and stood by the open back door, looking out and thinking about all the happy times she had spent here in this garden – and in this house, after leaving behind a tragic childhood and finding a new life with her Uncle Gadget.

Then she thought about Claw and wondered where to look first.

Obviously, he was hiding out somewhere - but the Riverton PD knew all about his kind of hiding places and according to the Gadget Mobile, everywhere had been searched, from empty and abandoned factories to the tunnels up in the Riverton Hills. He was no where to be found.

Penny thought some more...

_Was someone shielding him?_

As she thought of the vile man who had caused such fear in Riverton in the days of old and then about what he had done to her Uncle with the EMP device, she almost dismissed the idea:

Who would _want_ to shield a man like Claw?

But it wasn't such an impossible theory. Perhaps someone _was_ hiding him - and if that was the case, he could be anywhere in Riverton...

"_What's his motive?"_

She wondered aloud, knowing there had to be more to it than simple revenge. Of course he wanted revenge on her Uncle, he was the man responsible for having him jailed – but there had to be more. Claw wouldn't have gone to the trouble of making such a device simply to wreck the life of Inspector Gadget, because with Claw, there was _always_ a master plan...

And then a thought hit her:

_It was the device._

_He couldn't have made that device without help..._

* * *

Penny ran outside to where the Gadget Mobile was parked beneath the shady bough of a tree.

"_Wake up!"_

The car had been sleeping, taking time to recharge its battery, and now it woke with a start.

"_What?"_ the car demanded as it jolted awake.

Penny leaned over the door and peered at the computerized face on the screen.

"I need you to do some research for me. Go through all the records of local companies – the kind that work with the sort of components Claw would need to make an EMP device, the sort of company that would have the technical knowledge to create it. Don't bother with Braydon Industries, I know it's nothing to do with Taylor - he's trying to help. You're looking for scanning and tracking devices, radar stuff... anything that could be altered and powered up to emit that kind of a signal."

"Well that could take twenty-four hours!" the car warned her, "And I'll be running on empty without a recharge after all this virtual paperwork...do you know how many companies there are in Riverton and the surrounding areas? Since cybernetics became big business, there's all kinds of electrical places out there!"

Penny nodded.

"I know that," she replied, "but you just have to find the one that's most likely to be helping Claw. Find it and I'll look into it and see if I can find any clues. It's not much to go on, but it's a start."

"Okay," the car said, "but remember, this could take all day and all night..."

Penny smiled.

"Thanks, Gadget Mobile, we've got nothing to lose by trying."

* * *

_Gadget had slept deeply for hours. _

He had spoken earlier with Quimby, who had assured him armed officers would be in the building at all times and Claw would not get another chance to get close to him again.

But as the Chief had left the room, Gadget felt a sense of unease creeping over him – being alone, without working Gadgets was bad enough – but his lack of sight made him feel utterly defenceless, and that was something he didn't want to dwell on, because every time he recalled how Claw had frightened him by flicking that switch, he started to tremble as he thought about shattered circuits and fried wiring. It seemed to make the pain in his healing body intensify and it made him wonder if being a cyborg meant he was quite as invincible as he had first thought...obviously not, he was vulnerable to attack and with devastating consequences_...all Claw had to do was get that device in range and set it off and..._

The memory of his optical wiring popping behind his eyes played over in his mind.

Then Gadget had slept, and no bad dreams had come to him, even though he expected them after all he had been through.

He woke up as the door opened, and for a split second he recalled the way Claw had terrified him, and then he heard Brenda's voice as she approached his bed.

"_You took the bandages off?"_

Gadget drew in a deep breath and it came as a great relief that breathing was far easier now. He didn't even care if he could reach the oxygen or not, because he didn't need it any more.

"Yes I did," Gadget replied, reaching over to the table next to the bed for Penny's sunglasses and putting them on.

He turned his head as he felt Brenda sit down on the edge of his bed and he smiled.

"Penny thinks I look good in these shades."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about your eyes," Brenda said, "I felt that you had enough trauma to deal with over the new heart. And it was only for twenty-four hours, you're getting your eyes fixed today so I thought it best to spare you certain details."

"Come closer," Gadget said, "I need to say something to you."

Brenda leaned closer.

Gadget reached up.

"Closer, remember I can't see you..."

"I'm here," she told him, taking his hand and placing it on her arm.

Gadget leaned in, reaching out and briefly brushing his fingertips down her long hair to be sure of her position, and then he leaned close to her ear.

"You didn't have to lie to me," he said quietly, "but I get why you did it. You wanted to spare my feelings. _Thank you._"

And he kissed her cheek and then quickly shifted back again.

Brenda smiled as a wave of affection for Gadget washed over her.

"I'm glad you understand why I did it."

"Of course I do, you were trying to be thoughtful," he replied, "how long have I been asleep, Brenda?

"All afternoon, all evening, all night – it's morning now," she told him, "I came to tell you that you're having your eye surgery in forty minutes."

Gadget settled back against the pillows and kept the glasses on.

"Good," he said,"I'm looking forward to being able to see everyone again."

"Is Penny coming to see you before the surgery?"

Gadget smiled again.

"I told Penny to stop by around two o'clock this afternoon."

Brenda blinked in surprise.

"You didn't tell her what time you're having the operation?"

"No I didn't, I don't want to worry her. By the time she gets here, it's all over and I'll have my eyes working again."

Once more, Brenda felt such warmth and affection for Gadget.

"You did that because she's been through enough worry."

"And I wanted to surprise her." Gadget added.

"You'll certainly do that, "she agreed, "She'll be so relieved to know it's all over."

"I want it be over too, "Gadget replied, "I'm looking forward to getting out of here and going home."

"It won't be long," Brenda promised him, "you're a cyborg, and therefore you're healing fast. I mean, at least fast enough to go home soon. But you won't be back on duty for a while."

Gadget's smile faded and he frowned as he thought about Claw... _as soon as he was out of the hospital, he wanted to get in the Gadget Mobile and track that maniac down... _

"I know," he replied, agreeing at once with Brenda so he didn't worry her, "I know these things take time."

* * *

Bess Nightingale had been busy in the lab, waiting for Gadget to be brought in for surgery.

As the door opened and Brenda came in, she recognised he look in her eyes, it was the look that had never really left her since Gadget had collapsed at the party.

"Bess?" she said gently, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

She turned away from the tray of medical instruments and looked at Brenda, wishing she had not allowed herself a moment of weakness as her heart ached for Gadget and that ache had brought her to the brink of tears.

"I'm fine," she said.

"No you're not," Brenda replied, "and I know why. I know how you feel about Gadget and yes, it _is_ tough watching him go through so much because of what happened to him. But he's a cyborg –more than that, he's the prototype. That means he will _always_ need work doing at some point, even if its only minor. You have to get used to that. I know it's tough seeing someone you love going through so much, but he's Gadget and he's unique."

Her tears had faded away as she had been taken by surprise at Brenda's remark.

"I _love_ him? When did I say that?"

Brenda smiled warmly.

"You don't need to say it," she told her, "I can see it in your eyes."

And then she swiftly changed the subject.

"We'd better get ready for his implant surgery," she said, "I want to get this over as much as you do."

* * *

Penny had taken Brain for a walk early that morning.

As she went back into the house and let him off the leash, she wondered how the Gadget Mobile was getting along with his tall order of scanning every business in Riverton.

Then her thoughts briefly switched to her Uncle Gadget, and she remembered he had told her he was having his surgery in the afternoon - and she decided not to call and ask to speak with him because it was still early and he was probably asleep.

She knew from the many upgrades and repairs her Uncle had endured over the years that he would need a lot of sleep; cyborgs healed fast but also needed sleep while the connections healed.

Then she pushed aside thoughts that were making her heart ache and went outside and leaned against the door of the Gadget Mobile.

"Any luck yet?"

The screen had been moving in a blur as the car's smart functions reached into company records and invisibly searched. That searching jarred abruptly, the screen went dark and then the computerized face appeared once more.

"I'm still working, Penny!" the car said impatiently, "I'm almost done. I should be through with this by around eleven. And then I demand some much needed sleep time!"

"Okay, that's fine," Penny replied, "and thanks for doing this for me."

"We're both doing this for Gadget," the car replied, "now if you'll excuse me, I have more work to do..."

And the face vanished and the screen became a blur once more.

Penny went back inside the house and closed the front door behind her.

As it closed the sound seemed to echo around the place as if to serve as a reminder that her Uncle was not there.

She stood in the hallway and looked around thinking about the little things, like the way he came down the stairs in the morning and paused to grab his coat and hat, and then snatched up his keys from the table before he left for work.

She missed the sound of his voice, the way he closed the door, the way he called out to her when he came home and then as they sat down to dinner, told her all about his day.

Penny's eyes filled with tears.

She could hear Brain's paws pattering about in the kitchen and the jingle of his favourite toy, a hard rubber bone with a bell inside it.

But there were no sounds to remind her of Gadget.

_The place felt hollow without him._

Suddenly the thought came to mind that if he hadn't made it, if Brenda and Bess had not saved him that night, this house would have been hollow forever. Penny took in a sharp breath and blinked several times, feeling sure that to allow herself to cry would be a step backwards; her Uncle was getting better, he still faced surgery and repair work and some of it would be painful, but as long as he was strong enough to get through it, she would be strong too and she would not allow herself to weep again...

She started to think about the future.

Then she wondered:

_Would the future be okay for Gadget?_

_Would he have any lasting effects from what had happened?_

Then she shook her head, forcing away the negative side of it as she planned to later on get a nice big Welcome Home banner to put outside the front door.

It was too soon to think about putting that sign up yet, but soon...

She decided she would buy it today and keep it at home, just to remind herself that he was coming back, as it wouldn't be long until he was home again.

"Think positive, Penny," she said aloud as her own voice echoed back at her in the empty hallway, "get through this like Uncle Gadget...be as brave as him...you _can _do it..."

* * *

Taylor Braydon was in his office on the top floor of Braydon Industries.

He was at his desk and looking intently at the computer screen.

He didn't even notice as Emma came in with his morning coffee and set it down on the desk.

_"No,"_ he said under his breath, _"this isn't fair!"_

Emma stared at him.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

Taylor ran his fingers through his hair and leaned back in his seat as he gave a sigh of despair.

"It doesn't matter, it's just the usual stuff that goes wrong for me almost every day! This is what my life is like, Emma – technical difficulties can wreck everything for me...and they do, all the time..."

And he continued to look intently at the screen.

"Is this very bad?" Emma wondered, "Is it something serious within the company, Taylor?"

Taylor gave another sigh and looked up from the screen.

"No," he said, "but it makes me mad! I've found this great web site full of really cool free games - and every time I download, the computer can't open the file! It's not fair!"

Emma looked away as she smiled, then she met Taylor's gaze once more.

"Maybe you should try a different site?"

"But this one's got cool stuff on it, Emma!"

And she said nothing more on the subject as shifted his coffee closer to him.

"Don't let it get cold," she reminded him.

He turned off the screen and sipped his morning coffee and Emma spoke up again.

"Taylor, you had a call this morning from Glass Co."

He lowered the coffee cup as steam rose from it and a puzzled expression came to his face.

"Isn't that in Scotland?"

"What?"

"Glasgow. We don't have any business with Scotland, do we? But there _must _be cyborgs in Scotland, every country has cyborg people these days...maybe we do... yeah, there _must _be Scottish cyborgs!"

"I said, _Glass Co_. The Glass Company?"

Taylor put down his coffee and blinked.

"Did someone break a window?"

Emma gave a sigh, and as she looked back at him she thought about giving him a very fond kiss on his cheek, but instead she just explained to clarify the matter:

"Marcia Glass of Glass Co phoned. She owns the company that make scanning equipment for the military. She's been trying to talk to you for months, letters, phone calls..."

A flash of recognition came to Taylor's eyes.

"Oh, I remember now! She wanted to buy my company! Just tell her I said no, she can't have it because its mine."

And he smiled.

Emma thought again how fond she was of Taylor, and she smiled too.

"I told her you were too busy to talk right now – but she's going to call back. I don't think she will take no for an answer unless you meet up with her. She wants to arrange that."

"But I don't _want_ to meet her," Taylor replied,"I don't know her, and her company makes boring stuff, I'm not interested. I don't want to talk to her."

"Okay," Emma said, "I'll just say you're busy next time she calls."

Taylor's thoughts had shifted rapidly away from business as he glanced out at the view of Riverton beyond his window.

"I wonder how Gadget is today. I called the hospital and they said he's doing just fine; he's out of danger and the new hearts working well. And he's having his optical implants fitted today. But I can't stop thinking about him. It was terrible, if you'd seen what happened to him that night –"

"I'm glad I wasn't there," Emma replied, "I'm thankful I didn't see something like that happen. It must have been awful. I'm so glad he's getting better."

Taylor nodded.

"Me too," he agreed, and then he looked back at her and smiled.

"Next time a big party comes up, nothing will go wrong - and I want to take you with me and we'll both have a good time!"

Emma smiled too, but then she shook her head.

"Oh Taylor, that's so sweet of you – but I told you before, these big business events are just for special people."

And then she picked up some paper work from his desk and left the room.

Taylor's gaze lingered on the closed door as he wished she had stayed to hear what he was about to say.

"But you _are_ special, Emma," he said quietly,"You're _very _special to me..."

* * *

Gadget woke up from a heavy sleep and slowly opened his eyes.

Bess was looking down at him and her image was blurry.

"Gadget?" she said softly, "Can you hear me properly?"

"Yes, but my eyes ache."

"That's because we've repaired your hearing and replaced your ocular implants."

Gadget blinked and something wet ran from his eyes as he closed them again and his head pounded.

"It _really _hurts..." he murmured.

"You've got a headache?"

"Yes I have!"

Tiredness was coming over him again as Bess gently wiped away tears that were tinged with blood.

"Don't try to stay awake," she told him, "just go back to sleep. You're healing just fine, you're back in your room -"

"Can I go home now?"

Gadget's eyes had closed again, but as he gave a tired sigh he shifted uncomfortably as the pain in his head continued.

"Soon," Bess promised him, "You're healing very well. All the damage has been repaired now; you've got your body back like it used to be."

Gadget drew in a slow breath as he fought against tiredness.

"_Does that mean I can be John Brown again?"_ he whispered.

"No, Gadget," she said gently as she stroked his hair, "I'm sorry, but he's gone, that was a long time ago..."

And he turned his head as he took in a sharp breath, and as she wiped away more tears from his eyes, this time clear and free of blood, she wondered if it had been due to his healing eyes or if he had been crying.

But now he was sleeping deeply once more.

Bess stayed by his side as he slept, feeling her heart ache as she thought about what he had just said:

She didn't blame him for feeling that way; his mechanical body had been the prototype, far from perfect and often needing fixing one way or another. It meant a lot of repair work and sometimes pain for Gadget, and she understood why he would wish, after coming out of anaesthesia yet again, that he could have his human body back.

_"I never knew it would be this tough,"_ she said quietly, as she thought about what Brenda had told her – that Gadget often needed repairs and upgrades, and she would have to get used to that...

Bess reached out and stroked his hair again, watching him sleep. The dressing was off his chest now and Gadget had a fresh scar that curved around the chest plate beneath his skin, but even with the row of microchips down the middle of his chest, to look at him, she would not have been able to tell he was more than seventy per cent machine. He looked so human.

She wondered how he was feeling about the loss of his human heart.

Brenda had told her he had taken the news badly at first, but seemed to be coping now.

The more Bess thought about Gadget as the man she knew, the more she wondered how he really felt about being a cyborg. On the surface he seemed to cope well. But she was sure he felt differently underneath that veneer, even if he didn't care to say so:

He was so very warm, so completely human in his mind and his spirit, that she found it hard to put his personality together with one whose flesh was forever joined to machinery. And she didn't want to think about the pain he had suffered over the years as he struggled to live with the world's first fully functioning cyborg body...

But she knew his healing would be rapid and knowing he would soon be fully recovered brought her much comfort.

_"Brenda's right,"_ she said to him, speaking quietly as he slept, _"I do love you, Gadget..."_

* * *

Brain barked as the Gadget Mobile's horn sounded loudly several times.

Penny hurried from the house and reached the car in seconds, she was slightly breathless as she opened the door and got in and looked down at the face on the screen.

"Well?" she demanded, "What did you find out?"

"First of all," the car replied,"I've worked _hard_ on this. And I'm waiting for some recognition of my efforts in the form of something called saying _thank you_!"

Penny gave a sigh.

"Thanks, Gadget Mobile! Now tell me what you've got for me!"

"Glass Co." the car said, and the screen switched a computer generated image of the route to the company, and then a quick outline of its internal structure.

"It's owned by Marcia Glass. I've checked it several times and it's the only one that's had deliveries of the kind of stuff that would be used in the construction of the kind of device that Claw used. It didn't all come through at once; I hacked in and from what I can see of the company records, it looks like he started work on the EMP device around six months ago."

"You're sure about this?"

"Are you calling me stupid? I'm a sentient vehicle; I _know_ what _death to all machines_ looks like! I've kept a copy of what I found and saved it because it's evidence!"

"You've done well," Penny replied as her thoughts began to race.

Then she looked intently at the face on the screen.

"Do you have an address for Marcia Glass?"

"Of course I do!"

And her home address came up on the bottom of the screen.

"Let's get over there now!" Penny said.

"Excuse me?" the Gadget Mobile replied, "Right now at this very moment, after the way I've over worked my systems, all I want to do is sleep and recharge! And have you forgotten you need me to take you over to the cybernetics center later on to see Gadget?"

Penny recalled her Uncle had said he was having his eyes fixed that afternoon. and suddenly all thoughts of chasing after Marcia Glass slipped to the back of her mind. She didn't need the Gadget Mobile to take her any where because she had a car of her own, but she knew it made sense to take the car when investigating Marcia Glass, because she might need back up. And she definitely didn't need the Gadget Mobile to drive over to the cybernetics center, but she knew the car was worried about Gadget and needed to be there, even if it was stuck outside in the parking lot...

"I hadn't forgotten," she replied, "okay, we'll go over there after I've seen my Uncle Gadget."

"Can I get some sleep now?" the car demanded.

Penny nodded.

"Sure you can. Go ahead and recharge your battery – and well done, Gadget Mobile, thanks for all your help."

The face on the screen vanished and the car began to snore heavily.

Penny thought of Marcia Glass - and the need to get over to her house and search the place was burning at her in a way that was hard to ignore.

But then she reminded herself that her Uncle needed her too, and right now that was the most important thing, everything else would have to wait...

* * *

Over at the comfortable home of Marcia Glass, while everything seemed fine on the surface, Marcia was in turmoil.

_Claw was still smiling._

He had kept a smile on his face since terrifying Gadget and he kept talking about it too – he talked far too much about how he had enjoyed himself, he hadn't stopped talking about it - and she felt as if her head was about to explode as he sat by the open doors that led out the patio and the swimming pool and relaxed, taking in the view of the garden as he thought of Gadget and gave that cruel laugh again.

"I actually thought he was going to die of fright!" he exclaimed, "You should have been there, Marcia."

She looked away from him, stepping out to the patio and taking in fresh air as she watched the way the sunlight shone on the surface of the pool.

"But you didn't have to do that, did you..."

At first, Claw gave no reply.

Then the look in his eyes hardened as he silently got up, followed her out the door and stood behind her.

As his pincer gently but firmly clamped about her jaw, he leaned closer to her ear and dropped his voice to a whisper:

"I'm getting rather concerned about you," he hissed, "I'm starting to wonder if you feel sorry for Inspector Gadget and that is a very _serious_ concern, because it makes me wonder where your loyalties truly lie!"

And as he let go of her she caught her breath and stumbled forward, turning to face him with a shocked look in her eyes.

"Don't you _ever_ grab me like that again!" she fumed, "You know how I feel about you, how committed I am –"

"Do I?" Claw asked her.

And he took a step forward and Marcia, who had never backed down from anyone in her life, took a step back as she saw the murderous look in his eyes.

"Of course you do!" she said in a hushed voice, "I'm with you, I'm committed to our plans! I just thought what you did to Inspector Gadget was cruel, you didn't have to go back and torment him! And..."

She struggled to find more words, the kind that would take the rage from his eyes, "...And... and, like I said before, you took an unnecessary risk! Don't you know what you've done? Now the cybernetics center will be crawling with cops and the whole of Riverton PD will be looking for you!"

Satisfaction gleamed in Claw's eyes as he once again recalled the sound of terror in Gadget's voice.

"Oh, but it was worth it!" he said smugly,"It really, truly was worth every second of the torment I put him through!"

And Marcia breathed a little easier because his dark and angry look was gone now as he gloated once again over what he had done to Inspector Gadget.

Then his arm was around her shoulder as he stood beside her.

"Don't criticise my decisions again," he told her, and it sounded more like an order than a request.

"I won't," she said quietly.

And his arm was still around her shoulder and his Claw rested heavily, as heavy as the guilt she felt as she thought about how deeply she had become entangled with this man - who she now wished she had never met...

* * *

Penny had spent the morning and part of the afternoon watching the clock.

Many times she had considered getting into her car and driving over to the cybernetics center, but she knew her Uncle was healing and need to sleep, for a cyborg recovering from repair work, sleep was vital and the last thing she wanted to do was wake him up when he needed to rest.

When it was almost two in the afternoon, she woke the Gadget Mobile, and this time the car was happy to find the energy to get started up – because they both wanted to be near Gadget at this time.

Penny was silent on the drive over to the cybernetics center, her thoughts remained with her Uncle and the surgery he was facing.

When the car finally stopped outside the building, Penny sat silently in the car for a few moments, again pushing away the urge to cry.

She didn't want to be weak and broken; she had felt that way when her parents had been murdered and detested feeling helpless, hurting, with no one to lean on. Right now the one person she needed to lean on was depending on her to be strong, and she reminded herself of that fact as she took in a deep breath and composed herself.

"I don't know why I'm so upset," Penny said as she looked down at the face on the screen,"my Uncle's been through a lot of repairs and surgeries over the years, he's always going to need parts replacing, because he was the prototype and his design has glitches and faults. I don't know why this is making me feel so bad for him."

"Because he never should have had to go through this!" the car exclaimed, "This is Claw's fault!"

Penny grew tense at the thought of the man who had caused her Uncle such harm.

"Don't remind me," she said, "I _hate_ him, I always did - but now, I feel like I want to kill him!"

"But you wouldn't do that, because you're so much better than he is," the car reminded her.

"I know that," Penny said quietly, briefly wondering if she truly understood herself at all - since she had found out Claw was responsible for her Uncle's injuries, all she had thought about was bloody revenge and as she thought about what the car had said, its words had little impact, because she was _still_ thinking about vengeance...

Then she focussed on her Uncle Gadget and as her heart ached at the thought of what he had to go through to fix his eyes, she banished Claw from her mind – at least, for now...

"I'll be back soon," she said, and got out of the car.

"Be sure to tell Gadget I hope he's doing okay!" the car called back, but she just hurried up the steps and went into the cybernetics center without a backwards glance.

* * *

As Penny entered the building, the first thing she noticed was the high police presence, and it made her feel uneasy to think her Uncle needed so many armed cops about the place to ensure his safety.

No one stopped or questioned her; they recognized her because she was the Inspector's niece, saying _Hi_ to her as she walked into the building.

Penny made her way up to Gadget's room, remembering again that she needed to be calm and positive even though it felt as if her heart was breaking all over again.

It was never easy to see her Uncle in any degree of pain or discomfort, even though the repairs and upgrades he had been through over the years were too numerous to count – and it could _never_ get any easier, seeing him put to sleep and then waiting for him to wake up, sore but repaired...

She walked straight into his room, she went in quietly, expecting him to be awake now, but suffering the usual unease he felt before he went under the knife.

And as she walked into the room Gadget, who was sitting up in bed and resting against pillows, turned his head and smiled at her.

"Hi Penny," he said warmly, and this time as tears filled her eyes Penny let them come, because they were tears of relief:

_Gadget's eyes had already been fixed._

He was looking at her with what seemed to be the same sparkling blue eyes he had always had. She knew the implants had been replaced, but it didn't show – just like in the days before Brenda had explained the truth about his eyes, as she looked at him, Penny couldn't even tell his eyes were cybernetic, they looked human, and his warmth seemed to shine from them as it always did.

"I thought you said you was having the surgery this afternoon?"

"I had it this morning. I woke up with a sore head but I'm feeling fine now."

Penny sat down next to his bed and Gadget reached over and took hold of her hand as he looked into her eyes.

"It's so great to be able to see again!" he said, "And my hearing's fixed too. That's it, that's all the repair work done. Brenda said if I continue to rest, I can go home in a couple of days."

Penny was looking into his eyes, his perfect eyes- he seemed so much better, it almost made the events on the night of the party seem like a bad dream.

She blinked away tears as she thought about it again:

_He was getting better, he was going to be just fine...and soon, he would be coming home and the house wouldn't feel hollow any more._

"I'm so glad its all over," she said, and Gadget thought about Claw and guessed that none of this would be over until he was safely behind bars again, but he spared his niece that worrying thought.

"But you won't be able to go back to work yet," Penny reminded him, "you need to stay home and get a lot of rest. Bess said she's coming in to see you every day to make sure you're healing okay. You won't be able to go back to work for quite a while."

"I know that, Penny," Gadget replied, smiling at his niece as he inwardly disliked the fact that he was withholding his true intentions from her:

As soon as he was out of the cybernetics center, he would begin his search for Claw. That was something he didn't want Penny to know, or anyone else – especially not Chief Quimby, who seemed determined to keep him off duty for as long as possible. He guessed it was his way of trying to keep him safe, but the more Gadget thought about it, the more he doubted anyone in Riverton could be considered truly safe again – not until Claw was caught.

"You will rest when you get home, won't you Uncle Gadget?" Penny asked as she gave him a hug and looked into his eyes.

Gadget smiled kindly at his niece, wanting nothing more than to keep her safe from harm.

"Of course I will!" he said, "Trust me Penny, I'm going to take my time and rest and get better."

And Penny smiled and hugged him again, and Gadget felt his guilt weighing heavy – he hated to lie to Penny, but Claw was back and even more of a threat than he had been before – _and nothing would allow him to get her caught up in that, even if it meant lying to the person he was closest to in the whole of the world..._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"_It makes sense, Penny!"_

As the car spoke up, Penny gave no reply.

She hadn't expected the Gadget Mobile, whilst waiting out in the parking lot, to be turning over their plans and worrying about what Gadget might think of it if he found out...but that was _exactly_ what the car had been doing.

Penny was thinking deeply, torn between tearing off in search of Marcia Glass or putting her Uncle first and sparing him concern if he tried to call her and got no reply - _because she was sneaking off behind his back in pursuit of Claw..._

"Maybe you should wait until he comes home," the car suggested, "I don't want to be off catching the bad guys while Gadget is getting better, I want to be there for him."

Penny laughed and the expression on the Gadget Mobile's screen changed to one of hurt.

_"I mean it!"_

"But you're a car! What could you do for him if he needed help?"

"I could make a call and get help!"

Penny gave a sigh.

Her hands were resting lightly on the steering wheel as she weighed it all up...

She hadn't imagined for a second that while she was with her Uncle, the car would be _thinking_...and its thoughts were firmly with Gadget.

"I can't believe you're trying to talk me out of this!" she exclaimed.

"I'm not," the car told her, "I was just saying, you – I mean _we_ – shouldn't be sneaking off anywhere while he's in the hospital. Wait until he comes he, its only a couple of days. Maybe I can turn up some more information for you –"

"But I want Claw!" she said, and her eyes darkened with anger, "I also want to get my hands on that bitch who's shielding him!" And then Penny blinked back tears, determined not to weep.

"How can she protect him after what he's done? What kind of a person does that?" she exclaimed.

"Someone very misguided or very scared, maybe," the Gadget Mobile replied, "I've seen Gadget go after a lot of bad people over the years, but no one like Claw! He's the worst of the worst, Penny. Now tell me again, how _is_ Gadget? How does he look, does he seem like his usual self again?"

Penny gave another sigh

"I told you - he's fine."

"So let's go home," the car replied, "once Gadget comes back, he's going to be resting for a while. And we'll know where he is and we won't have to worry about him, that way we can keep him safe."

"But we know where he is now!" Penny said, thinking about the armed police who were all over the cybernetics lab; she couldn't imagine him being any safer from Claw than he was at this very moment...

"But he's not well enough to come home yet," the car pointed out, "I want him home before we go off taking chances. Brenda won't let him out of there until he's okay."

Penny thought about Claw and how much she hated him. She thought about Marcia Glass, a woman she had never met who she wanted to beat up because she hated her too, and what angered her the most was the fact that this woman was shielding the man who had hurt her Uncle. She didn't know why she felt the same kind of rage towards Marcia as she did to Claw, but every time she thought about what their combined efforts had done to her Uncle, it made her feel cold and scared and that all went back to one night:

_The night her parents were murdered._

Seeing Gadget almost die in front of her because of the damage Claw had inflicted had made her feel as if she was reliving that night from her childhood again:

_In a split second, Penny had felt like that terrified child she once was, and it was like the past tapping her on the shoulder as if to remind her that certain doors never truly closed, not the ones that had terrible memories hiding behind them..._

_She hated to be powerless._

_That was something she had worked hard to overcome as the years had passed._

_Gadget had been her strength, her safety net._

And now she felt as if that one link she had to all she held secure in life had almost been severed – of _course_ she felt like killing Claw... She wanted to kill Marcia too – and those thoughts wouldn't leave her alone, but what worried her a little was the fact that she didn't actually care if revenge would be right or wrong, she felt the need for it – and she knew deep down that her Uncle Gadget would not have approved, because he believed in fairness and justice...

"So what are we doing?" the Gadget Mobile asked her, "Do we go off and take on Claw, or do we get that welcome home banner up and wait for Gadget?"

"We'll wait till he comes home," Penny replied, "but I'd very much like to -"

"Go after Marcia to kick her butt all over Riverton?" the Gadget Mobile exclaimed, "And I don't even want to _think_ about what you want to do to Claw!"

"No," she said thoughtfully, "I'm going to see Taylor Braydon, I want to know more about this EMP device - and his people seem to have all the answers."

"_At least if you go and see Taylor you might chill out a bit," _the Gadget Mobile remarked.

As she started up the engine and glared down at the screen, the eyes of the computerized face grew wider.

"What's _that _supposed to mean?" Penny demanded.

"I just thought you might lose that scary _I want to kill someone_ look from your eyes, that's all."

Penny took a slow, deep breath and then focussed on the road.

"What makes you think I'd do a thing like that?" she remarked as she drove away from the building.

"I just don't want all this to push you too far," the car replied.

"_Too late for that,"_ Penny muttered, and then she roughly shifted the cars gears and accelerated speed as she hit the open road and headed for home.

* * *

It was evening and the sun was setting into a lazy golden glow as Marcia Glass sat on the patio drinking iced tea.

She would have preferred a shot of vodka with that ice instead of tea, but she felt sure alcohol wouldn't make her feel any better – not in the long run.

Then as she thought about the man who had darkened her life, she heard his footsteps approaching and as his shadow fell over her, she turned and looked up at him.

The glow from the sinking sun bounced off his claw as it hung idle at his side. He fixed his gaze on her and began to explain the next phase of his plan:

"We make more demands to take over the cybernetics industry. And we start with Braydon Industries, it's local, it's a big company and I've heard Taylor Braydon is an idiot. This should be simple. Have you arranged a meeting with him yet?"

Marcia looked down at table, and then she turned her head and looked into Claw's eyes.

"You've been asking me for months to meet with him, and for months he's refused!"

Claw shrugged.

"So go and pay him a visit. Surprise him."

Marcia recalled how it felt to have that cold steel pincer clamped about her face, and nodded in agreement.

Claw smiled.

"Wonderful!" he said brightly, "You're going over there tomorrow."

And Marcia accepted his orders silently, not wanting to anger him by refusing. She had resigned herself to the fact that this was how it would be for now – Claw gave orders and she followed like a minion, because his way was the _only _way...

* * *

When Gadget woke up with sunlight brightening his room, he shifted cautiously and then sat up in bed, feeling mildly surprised that the weakness and the aches and pains he had felt constantly since his collapse were now gone. He felt incredibly tired and knew from many previous experiences of repairs and upgrades to his prototype body, that this meant he was still healing. But the worst was over now.

He thought about calling Penny, but then Brenda walked in, and seeing him sitting up and looking so much better made her smile.

"Gadget!" she exclaimed, "You're looking great! How do you feel?"

"Like it's time to go home?" he suggested hopefully.

"Tomorrow," Brenda told him, "as long as you continue to improve. I've already signed the papers to say you can leave – but I post dated it. You're staying here another night."

"Why did you post date it?" he asked her.

"Because I am looking forward to taking a much deserved week off – starting from lunchtime today! And don't even think about getting out of here early – I've already told Bess you mustn't go home before tomorrow."

Gadget tried to hide his disappointment, but Brenda had caught the look on his face.

"It's just one more night," she reminded him, "then you can go home and rest – and mean, _rest_! You won't be back on duty for a long time; you've been through too much."

"Sure Brenda, whatever you say." Gadget replied.

Brenda saw that look of disappointment was still on his face, so she leaned closer and gave him a hug, making it a brief one, because after all that had happened, to linger any longer would be sure to stir up feelings from the past that she didn't want to think about – her and Gadget, as a couple, were in the past, and the fact that he had almost died was something she had to put in place in her mind just like she did with every other cyborg patient she worked with – but it wasn't easy to do as she looked back at him and kept a smile on her face, feeling far more thankful than she dared to voice that he had come through this mess and out the other side.

"I expect you're looking forward to some time off work," she added, "you need it – and Bess will becoming to see you."

"I know," Gadget replied, "but it's on my mind all the time, I know Claw's out there."

"And that's a matter for Quimby and his officers until you're fit for duty again," she reminded him, "have faith in him, Gadget - he knows what he's doing."

Then as their eyes met, she smiled again.

"Its good to see you recovering so fast," she told him, "take care, Gadget – and make sure you rest when you get home."

"Of course I will," he replied, but looked away as she left the room, because he was honest all the way through and hated lying. It had been tough enough to lie to Penny, but his plan was to get home, rest for as short a time as possible and then get out there and find Claw.

Gadget's thoughts shifted back to the weapon his enemy had used. Recollections of the night of the party were coming back with clarity and he didn't care too much to dwell on it:

_Claw had flicked a switch and then came pain and darkness..._

Gadget caught his breath and realised he had broken out into a sweat. He was sure if he still had a beating human heart it would have been racing by now...

"Don't do this," Gadget whispered, as he closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing as adrenaline pumped through what remained of his human body and the effect spread to his cybernetic limbs, making him tremble.

He had suddenly thought:

_What if Claw used the weapon again?_

_It was only a matter of time..._

That memory was playing out again:

_The lights went out, pain hit him and something popped behind his eyes..._

"_Stop it!"_ he said sharply as sweat ran down his face.

He thought of Penny waiting at home. She would be so happy to see him get out of here... that thought pushed away his fears and the trembling stopped.

Gadget took in a deep breath and lay back against his pillows as he wondered if Claw would simply get him again, and this time finish him off... _all he had to do was flick a switch and fry his wiring..._

As he sat there alone in his room, Gadget began to think about all the repair work he had been forced to endure. He knew he wouldn't survive a second attack. He also knew that he was the only one who stood a chance of stopping Claw, yet he also knew deep down inside that something was missing; he had lost something else along with his human heart:

_He felt as if he wasn't up for this fight any more, because Riverton's greatest crime fighter had been through too much, he knew it for sure - he had lost his nerve..._

* * *

Penny felt focussed and almost relaxed as she drove the Gadget Mobile over to Braydon Industries.

All thoughts of aggression had slipped away as she recalled the man who had helped her on the night of the attack, who had held her back and forced her to pull herself together. Taylor was a good person, she knew it. And the way she felt right now, it seemed there were too few good people in this world.

But Taylor was one of the best and she was looking forward to seeing him.

"Say Hi to Taylor for me," the car told her as she got out, "he sounds like a nice guy."

"He is," Penny replied, and then she went up to the entrance of Braydon Industries and entered the building.

She crossed a wide, marble floor and approached a large reception area.

Then Penny explained that she was Inspector Gadget's niece and as soon as she said the name _Gadget,_ the woman behind the desk had smiled and told her to wait while she called up to Mr Braydon's secretary to see if he was available.

_Penny waited. _

While she waited she noticed another member of staff on the desk answering the phone. And a third was greeting a visitor.

Penny was only watching out of boredom while she waited, but as the pale, blonde woman in the dark grey business suit spoke up, Penny stared at her:

"I'm here to see Taylor Braydon," she said, "my name is Marcia Glass, of Glass Co. I'd very much appreciate it if I could have five minutes of his time - I've repeatedly called and sent letters and emails and had little response...doesn't he _know_ who I am? My company is worth a fortune, I would have thought a man like Mr Braydon would _want_ to meet up with another business person who he's on equal standing with...I demand to speak with him, I'm _not_ leaving until I do..."

Penny's jaw went tight.

Then anger rose up in her like fire and as she fixed her gaze on the woman who had been protecting Claw, she took in every detail, from the cut of her clothing to the way she styled her hair. She could hear her speaking again as she emphasised she would not be leaving without speaking to Taylor Braydon, but Penny didn't care what she was saying. She didn't care about anything except the fact that the rest of the room had faded out and all she could see was Marcia and she knew it now, she _did_ want to kill her and it was all she could think about...

Someone touched her arm and she turned sharply to see a slightly startled look in the eyes of the desk clerk.

"Mr Braydon said you're welcome to go up," she informed her, he's on the top floor –"

"I'll find my way."

Penny turned away and began to head for the elevator, keen to avoid the sight of Marcia Glass, because she still wanted to kill her.

She hit the button and waited for the doors to open.

As she waited, Penny swore her blood was pumping so hard she could feel it rushing around her body, she could almost see it, red and raging, like the mist that was falling on her awareness and shading it scarlet.

The elevator was still descending and the doors were still shut.

She stared at those closed doors as she thought about Marcia, recalling every detail she had observed about the woman:

_This was the person who was shielding Claw._

_This woman had helped and protected him, given him the means to build the device that had shattered her Uncle's life, too..._

_Marcia knew what Claw had done to Inspector Gadget, of course she knew..._

_Penny could picture them both laughing about it as her rage continued to build silently._

_Something inside her was breaking. _

And then as the doors opened and three people walked out, Penny went in and hit the button for the top floor.

She leaned against the wall and took a deep breath.

_She was here to see Taylor Braydon, but she also wanted to kill Marcia..._

The doors began to slide shut but then a woman dashed in, smacking her hand against the sliding doors and stepping inside at the last minute.

_The doors closed. _

Penny felt no jolt as the elevator began to slowly glide.

The lights were bright and the walls were mirrored.

She guessed it would take a long time to clean the blood off those walls – and there _would _be blood, because the woman who had just dashed into the elevator at the last minute was Marcia Glass...

* * *

Penny was still leaning against the wall.

She fixed her gaze on the blonde who turned her head a couple of times, sensing that back of the neck prickling that a person often got when being stared at. Then she turned her back on Penny and watched as the floors counted slowly upwards on the digital panel beside the buttons.

It was silent. There was no annoying music being piped through, they were on a slow, quiet, effortless glide to the top.

Penny calmly thought about it and reasoned only one of them would be getting out of here alive – and it wouldn't be Marcia...

_"I watched him fall to the ground."_

Marcia turned around, looking nervously at the young woman who stood there in a white top and a short denim skit. She was tanned and toned and her honey colored hair fell to her shoulders. The whole of her body seemed tense and her hands were clenched into fists as her muscular arms began to tighten.

Marcia had never seen the woman before in her life, and didn't know what she was talking about – but she knew for sure the cold, almost vacant stare in her eyes alarmed her.

"I don't know you," she said quietly, glancing at the buttons and deciding it was just a short time until the doors opened on to the top floor...

Penny stepped closer, unblinking as she stared at her.

_"My Uncle almost died!"_ she continued, _"You don't know what it was like! They cut his chest open to keep his heart beating. I thought I was losing him!"_

Marcia slowly shook her head.

"I...I really don't know what you're talking about," she said nervously.

"_WHERE'S CLAW?" _Penny yelled, and moved like a blur, lunging at her and slamming her against the glass, knocking the breath from her body.

Penny tangled her fingers into Marcia's hair and pulled her head forward.

_"TALK!"_ she screamed, and smashed the back of her head against the wall once, twice, then a third time as the sound of bone against breaking glass fuelled her up for more.

The back of Marcia's head was bloody and splinters of glass stuck to her hair.

Penny punched her in the face and split her lip and then grabbed her by the throat, shaking her roughly.

"_Stay awake, bitch,"_ she hissed,_ "Give me Claw!"_

"No, I can't do that!" Marcia gasped, "He will kill me!"

Penny's eyes still looked dead.

"_So will I,"_ she stated, and clamped her hand about her throat and started to squeeze.

Once she squeezed, she couldn't stop, because the images were flashing through her mind from the night of the party:

She remembered the way he fell, the way Brenda and Bess had fought to save him. She recalled the gunshots going off in her mind as she relived her parents shooting as the only person she loved, who she now called family, lay on his back on the ground with his chest cut open while his heart was manually pumped and she was screaming, and Taylor was holding her back and Penny felt small and scared and lost and...

_Marcia's breath cut off as Penny heard a crack. _

She let go of her and watched her slide to the floor.

Penny took in a deep breath.

_One down, one to go._

She wanted to kill Claw too, but he would die much slower than Marcia Glass...she knew what she wanted to do to him...

_And then the elevator slid open._

* * *

The sudden stop and the doors sliding back made Penny snap her eyes open:

She looked around at flawless, undamaged mirrored walls.

_She had been alone the whole time as her mind played out all she had wanted to do to the woman who was shielding Claw._

Penny straightened up and took in a deep breath, wondered if she was going crazy, and then stepped out on to the top floor.

As Taylor's secretary came towards her, another elevator further down the corridor slid open.

Marcia Glass got out and began to walk towards them.

Penny looked away, not wanting to think about that daydream that had felt like such a gift:

_Yes, she still wanted to kill Marcia..._

"Mr Braydon will see you now," Emma said, and then she glanced back at the woman who approached them.

"Ms Glass?"

As the name echoed around the corridor, Penny stood still, her gaze fixed on an open door that led through to a comfortable office and beyond it; she saw the name_ Taylor Braydon_ on a brass plate fixed to a second door.

Taylor's secretary spoke politely to Marcia.

"Yes, he said he will see you, although he's very busy and he doesn't have a lot of time. If you'd like to take a seat over here-"

And as she led Marcia over to a seating area by a wide window, Penny breathed out in relief to know she wouldn't have to be too close to her –because she didn't trust herself, even in front of witnesses...

Emma was suddenly at her side giving her a sweet smile.

"This way," she said, "Taylor's looking forward to seeing you. He's so glad your Uncles getting better."

"So am I," Penny replied, and she followed her to the office, thinking of Taylor, the nice guy who had helped her out and made the call that had saved her Uncles life on the night when the lights went out and no one had a working cell phone. Thinking of Taylor chased away thoughts of killing Marcia, but only in a fleeting sense, pushing the dark thoughts back into a dark place, where she knew they would wait, and come back out later on...

* * *

"Penny!" Taylor exclaimed as he got up from his seat, "It's great to see you!"

And Taylor strode over to her and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a big hug.

As he let go his eyes were sparkling.

"I'm so glad your Uncle's making a fine recovery!" he said warmly," I was hoping and praying that he would. And I have some good news, too – I've had a shield system designed for him. It wasn't difficult, my people have had the technology to provide shielding for small areas of the body for quite a while - for example, around single, vital organs...but this is a system that will protect the whole of his body. I'm not saying if he came under attack he wouldn't get some functions knocked out, he might lose a few gadgets - but hopefully, while it wouldn't leave him immune, it would certainly offer excellent protection!"

And then his smile faded a little.

"I can't explain how it works right now, not without going into really complicated details, but it will work!"

Penny blinked, feeling an ache in her heart as she stood there looking at Taylor with confusion in her eyes.

"This sounds major."

"It's a series of implants that can be placed around the body."

Penny thought of her Uncle, only recently recovered, and wanted to cry all over again.

"Implants? I take it that's going to be a surgical procedure."

"Well yes, Penny, obviously – but once he's got it, the system is there forever and he'll always have that protection."

"I see..."

Penny drew in a deep breath as she looked out the wide window at the view of Riverton beyond. Everything seemed so small from up here; she wished she could shrink her worries as instantly, but it was impossible.

Taylor saw the pain reflected in her eyes and the look on her face reminded him of how afraid she had been on the night Claw first struck. He gently put his hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes.

"It's no big deal, Penny," he said softly, "these implants are tiny, but they're highly effective. You have to trust me on that; he's safe once he's got the shield system in place. And don't worry; he won't have it implanted until he's fully recovered."

Penny nodded. Then she thought about the reason she had come here in the first place.

"Taylor, I wanted to ask you something –"

He took his hand off her shoulder and smiled.

"Ask me anything!"

"Well, its confidential," Penny began, "it's not something I'd want you to share with anyone else..."

And Taylor's eyes grew wider.

"What's this about?" he said suspiciously.

"If I tell you, do you promise to keep it to yourself?"

"Okay," Taylor said,"tell me all about it."

"Its about the weapon Claw used against my Uncle. And about what it did to him - and I need to know something that only _you_ can tell me."

Taylor's face started to turn bright red.

"Penny, " he began, "you're an attractive young woman, but you're also Inspector Gadget's niece and there's _no_ way I would disrespect you, no matter how much you threw yourself at me!"

All her aggressive thoughts about Marcia Glass melted away as she stared at Taylor in utter confusion.

"Excuse me? You think I'm coming on to you? My Uncle has been attacked by Claw, almost died, had to have seventy percent of his body repaired – and you really think at a time like this, I would _come on_ to you?"

Taylor's blush deepened.

"I know what this is about," he said in a hushed voice, "I get it..."

And he glanced nervously at the closed door before looking back at Penny.

"You've heard the rumours...you've worked it out, that Gadget's system was fried and mine was untouched."

Penny's eyes grew wider.

"_You're a cyborg?"_

Now it was Taylor's turn to feel confused.

"Well yes, but you know that or you wouldn't be asking me that question!"

"What question?" Penny wondered as she thought back on all she had said and couldn't figure out where this was leading.

"You asked me about the weapon," Taylor replied, "Gadget took the damage because he doesn't have a shield system. _But I do_. I have a shield built around my heart. It's just another way to protect me because of who I am because I'm rich and powerful...I've had the implants for two years. I've had my cybernetic heart for eleven years. I was in a car accident when I was young and stupid and drunk and I had to have my heart replaced. That's why, when I inherited my Dad's business, I turned it into a cybernetics development company, because cybernetics saved my life and now I want to do the same for other people too, and at an affordable price. I'm not in this business to get even richer - I'm in it to save lives."

Penny was looking at him in amazement now.

"Wowser..." she said, echoing her Uncle's favourite expression.

And Taylor stepped backwards again.

"Just don't think about _it_ too much when you're around me," he told her, "please control your urges, Penny. Its just a heart, its not as if I'm covered in man metal! _Don't get overcome by lust and launch yourself at me and rip open my shirt and...Just don't do it, control yourself, please_..."

"Control myself?" she exclaimed, "I certainly don't a have a problem doing that around _you_, Taylor!"

"That's good," he said, "just keep remembering you mustn't go into a frenzy over it, because I know, I've always known. Guys who have more of _it,_ they're like a magnet to women!"

Penny started to smile. She tried not to smile too much in case she scared Taylor and he got the wrong idea, because he already had a look of panic in his eyes.

"What are you talking about, what exactly is _it_?"

He was still blushing.

"My man metal," he whispered.

"Your man _what?_"

"Man metal, you know, my cyborg parts might be too exciting and arousing for you to think about –"

Penny started to laugh.

She shook her head, still laughing as Taylor stood there blushing profusely.

"You're unaffected?" he said in surprise.

Penny stopped herself from having another fit of laughter, because she guessed it just wouldn't be fair on Taylor, it would be kinder to play along with his strange ideas...

"I guess I'm immune to your manly metal –"

"_Man metal,"_ Taylor corrected her, _"Cybernetic attachments and plating...man metal, what real men are made of, the stuff that women can't resist."_

And Penny looked down at her shoes and bit her lip as she forced herself not to laugh at him again.

When she met his gaze, he still had that intense, sincere look in his eyes and she briefly looked out the window, across the view of Riverton, thought of her Uncle and why she had come here, and managed to get her amusement under control.

"I can _definitely_ resist you, Taylor," she promised him, "it's probably because I was brought up by my Uncle Gadget - cyborgs just don't excite me at all."

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank God for that!" he exclaimed, "I wouldn't want you to throw yourself at me..."

And his eyes grew wider as his imagination raced ahead of him:

"_I mean, I would have had no choice in the matter, not pinned to the desk while you held me down and told me what thoughts of my cyborg parts did to your mind! You would have used me like a sex toy, maybe more than once, definitely on more than one occasion – and then you'd find out you're pregnant and Gadget would come in here mad as hell because I got his niece in trouble and punch me out with one of his extending arms – maybe both of them – and the one that comes out of his hat-"_

"Stop it!" Penny said sharply, "I don't feel at all interested in you in that way, Taylor! I came here to talk about the EMP device. I was hoping you could tell me if it was likely that Claw could have got help from anyone locally, here in Riverton."

"I don't know – places that make scanning and radar stuff, I guess. I don't know all the clever stuff, I have clever people working for me who do it instead," he replied.

"The Gadget Mobile ran some checks and he thinks there's a chance that Glass Co could be involved. If they are, Marcia Glass is working with Claw."

Taylor stared at her.

"She's outside, waiting to see me!"

"I know," Penny replied, and as she thought of Marcia, the urge to kill her seemed to have subsided temporarily, no doubt because she was in the company of Taylor, whose crazy ideas about his _man metal_ had certainly taken her mind off her troubles.

"Why is she here, Taylor?" she asked him.

"Because she's always trying to meet up with me – she wants to buy my company. She's got no chance. I only agreed to see her today because I want to tell her face to face the answer is NO! And it's going to be so boring, I'm not even interested in her military scanning equipment –"

He gave a gasp as he finally put the pieces together.

"Oh no! I get it now, she's working with Claw!"

And then he frowned.

"But _why_ would she want to buy my company?"

Penny's mind was already miles ahead of Taylor's as she thought about the possibilities.

"Your company is huge. If she bought Braydon Industries and handed it over to Claw..._That's_ _it! He's trying to take over the global cybernetics market!_"

Taylor looked at her blankly.

"You think?"

Penny nodded.

Then she thought about Marcia Glass and began to form a plan.

"Ask your secretary to send Marcia in now."

"But you're still here!"

"She won't know that," Penny explained, "I'll hide under your desk. That way I can hear everything she says."

"And then what?" Taylor asked her.

Penny looked at Taylor Braydon and made a decision:

He wasn't the brightest guy in the world, but he could handle himself and she could use some help on this case...

"And then we figure out what to do next," she told him, "because Claw is after this company and if you don't hand it over, he'll try and take it any way he can. We need to team up on this and nail him together."

Taylor's eyes lit up.

"I'm in!" he said excitedly, "This is like being a cop!"

"But don't say a word to anyone," Penny reminded him.

"Only if you promise not to tell anyone about my man metal," Taylor replied, "I don't want to explain that unless I have to, I'm willing to talk about it to Gadget or Brenda if they want to ask about the effectiveness of the shield system, but no one else...it could be too dangerous! If word got out that I have man metal, I'd be _swamped_ by horny women every time I set foot outside my front door!"

And he shivered at the thought.

"I'd have no quality of life any more!" he said in despair.

Penny looked down at her shoes again, willing herself not to laugh at such a serious time:

_Marcia was about to walk in, and thanks to Taylor and his absurd ideas about his cyborg parts, she had laughed too much to consider murder for a second time that day..._

"Your secret's safe with me," she promised him.

And then she went behind Taylor's desk and hid beneath it.

"I'll just buzz Emma and tell her to send Marcia through," Taylor said.

"Don't talk to me while I'm under here," Penny reminded him, "I'm hiding!"

"Oh...right..." Taylor said, and then Penny waited, crouched beneath the desk as he called through to his secretary.

"Penny just left?" Emma said through the intercom, sounding surprised, "I was only out of the office for five minutes...I didn't see her go."

"Well she's gone and I want to get this meeting with Marcia over with," Taylor told her, "so send her in please, Emma."

And as she hid beneath the desk, Penny drew in a tight breath and hoped Taylor wouldn't turn this plan into a disaster:

_Marcia wasn't even in the room yet and he sounded nervous. _

_She knew he couldn't afford to mess this up because there was too much at stake..._

_And those thoughts about killing Marcia Glass were creeping back from the dark place at the back of her mind._

She tried to shove those thoughts aside as she waited for the woman who was shielding Caw to walk into the room, and as she waited Penny felt tension creeping through her body as her thoughts kept returning to one obsession she couldn't shake off:

_She still wanted revenge..._


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Brenda Bradford had been seconds away from leaving her office when the phone rang. She glanced back at it, and then decided she would take the call - and this would be the _last_ work related thing she did before leaving the building.

"Hello," she said, "Dr Bradford speaking."

As she listed to the call from Braydon Industries, she gave a sigh, now wishing she had never answered the call. But this was about Gadget, about a shield system that Taylor had requested to be designed to help the Inspector, and as she learned it would offer much protection from the possibility of a second attack by Claw, she was glad she had picked up the phone, because she wanted to make sure Bess Nightingale understood what kind of task had just been placed in her hands...

The scientist from Braydon Industries explainedit all, and as she listened she felt relieved that Gadget would have some defence against the weapon that had caused him such damage, but didn't envy the task that she was handing to Bess...the procedure to give him the shield system, delivered via a series of implants, was simple enough to install – but Bess would have to give him the bad news that he faced yet another procedure...

She listened some more and then arranged for the shield implants to be set over to the lab, and then she thanked the caller and put the phone down.

Her heart felt heavy as she left her office and knocked on the door of Bess Nightingale's room.

"Come in," Bess called, and Brenda walked in.

Bess was at her desk studying her computer screen. She paused the program and looked up at Brenda.

"Enjoy your week off," she said warmly, but then she noticed Brenda wasn't smiling.

"What's wrong?" she asked her.

Brenda stepped closer to the desk.

"I just got a call from Braydon Industries; apparently Taylor's people have come up with a shield system to protect Gadget from further attacks."

"Is it complicated to install?"

"No," Brenda replied, "and it's being sent over with all the technical details and some installation equipment. It;s basically a series of implants, its not difficult install. But I said goodbye to Gadget a while ago - and I'm really not looking forward to stopping by again on my way out to tell him he's got to have another procedure."

"When were you thinking of fitting the shields?" Bess wondered.

"I thought it would be best to discharge him from our care tomorrow, give him a few days at home to fully recover, then bring him back in and get the implants in place. He needs some time at home, he's been through so much, and I want him fully recovered before he has the surgery."

Bess thought for a moment. She didn't doubt that Gadget felt as if he had been through enough; all he wanted to do was go home...

"Don't worry," she said, "I'll tell him. I'll wait until tomorrow and then I'll explain that he needs to come back and have the shield system implanted later on."

"Thanks," Brenda replied, "I would have hated to have gone back in there and told him news like this just when he's looking forward to getting out of here."

"So Taylor Braydon said the system's easy to install?"

"I didn't speak to Taylor," Brenda replied, "he was in a meeting. I spoke to one of his scientists. I've every faith in you to install the implants, it's simple but precise surgery. You can always call me if you need my help; I know how you feel about carrying out procedures on Gadget."

"I'll be fine," Bess replied, hoping she was as confident as she had sounded, because Brenda was right about how she found the thought of putting Gadget through discomfort upsetting.

Bess looked back at the computer screen.

"If I have any problems I'll call you," she added.

And Bess looked up from the screen again. Brenda caught a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes, but it was still there as she looked back at the screen once more.

"Is something wrong?"

"No," Bess said, turning the screen around further away from Brenda's view, "I was just watching some stuff about Gadget's body plating system, that's all. I want to know everything, every little detail about how he's put together, how everything _works_..."

And Bess began to blush.

Brenda got closer to the desk and leaned on it as she lowered her voice.

"Would this be about certain aspects of his design _and _certain aspects you might be soon considering in the future, in regard to your friendship with him?"

Bess finally met her gaze.

_"It could be,"_ she admitted.

Brenda smiled.

"You're wondering about if you and him got closer, about what to expect?"

Bess turned the screen around and showed her the computerized display of Gadget's inner wiring system.

"I know how he's put together but I'm thinking about if we get closer, I've never..."

"You've never been with a cyborg before?"

"Not with someone who's seventy percent cyborg," she replied.

Brenda gathered her thoughts and smiled again as she recalled the days when she used to be the girl on Inspector Gadget's arm.

"Well," she said, "in the days when I was with him, this was right after he'd got his new body, so he wasn't ready for a full relationship. But I've heard he's had a few women since me. He hasn't had many long term relationships, but I wouldn't imagine he's as shy as he was back then; he's certainly not insecure about his body – although what happened to him recently with Claw has probably knocked his confidence a little. But I wouldn't imagine it would get in the way of anything happening between you both."

Bess paused. _Brenda was a good friend and she felt as if she could talk to her about almost anything, but it was still difficult to find the right words to explain..._

"I was thinking about the way he's constructed...you know, he's got the plate on his groin and I know he can get pleasure from the sensors just above it but I don't know how...I mean, _if_ things went that far, I'm not sure I'd know what to do."

And she felt her blush deepening as she looked at her.

Brenda was smiling again.

"Okay, lets forget our job titles and talk as friends... he likes you and you like him. If things _do_ go further, that row of raised sensors above his groin are all he needs to have a good time. And you can enjoy them too if you get in the right position –"

"Brenda!" Bess exclaimed, as she stopped blushing and laughed, "I cant believe you just said that!"

"Well you need someone to spell it out for you," Brenda replied as her eyes danced with amusement, "the sensors are coated with medical grade silicone and they warm up, too..."

And then her voice softened as the amusement faded from her eyes.

"I'd let him take the lead. And I would imagine the missionary position would make him feel...well, as if nothing's missing, he needs to be made to feel like that."

Bess nodded.

As she smiled at Brenda her blush had faded.

"Thanks for the advice."

And then Brenda's eyes sparkled again.

"So," she said, "All you have to do now is get your man into the bedroom - and don't worry about the sensors; when we repaired the wiring, you did the top half and _I_ did the lower half – so you know he won't malfunction!"

Bess laughed softly.

"Okay, quit teasing me!"

"I'm not," Brenda said playfully, "I fixed his wiring, and you get to test it out!"

And the two women looked at each other and smiled.

"Thanks for the advice," Bess told her.

"Any time," Brenda replied, "I really hope things do go further with you two, I'd love to see Gadget happy with someone, and I think you'd be so good for him."

And Brenda turned to leave.

She reached the doorway and then turned back.

"Oh, there's one more thing," she said with a giggle as she kept her voice low, "The plating is smooth and so are the sensors. He'll need to lubricate the surface. And to get the most out of it you ought to be just as smooth too – you know what I mean - so you can slide against him and -"

Bess was blushing again as she giggled too.

"I _know_ that!" she exclaimed, "I've heard about that before, about human to cyborg contact... now get out of here and enjoy your time off, Dr Bradford!"

Brenda smiled.

"Good luck with Gadget. And I'll see you later, honey," she said fondly, and then she left the office.

Bess sat there for a moment as she thought about what Brenda had explained, then she smiled and shook her head as she switched off the computer program... she hadn't needed technical instructions after all – girl talk with Brenda had given her all the answers she needed.

* * *

Penny shifted position, feeling uncomfortable squashed up under Taylor's desk. He had kicked out his long legs several times and Penny had needed to duck and move over... and now Taylor had been talking to Marcia for half an hour, and the woman was still taking her conversation back to the same point:

"_But I want to offer you a very reasonable deal, Taylor... I want to buy Braydon Industries."_

"And my company is not for sale!" Taylor replied, and Penny gave a very quiet sigh beneath the desk as the conversation went around in a circle.

"I'm sorry," Taylor said, shifting his legs again and knocking into Penny, "Oh...excuse me, Ms Glass...I dropped a pencil..."

Penny stared as Taylor leaned beneath the desk.

He mouthed, _OK?_ And Penny waved him away with her hand, feeling sure he was about to blow her cover at any moment...

"Sorry!" Taylor said to her, then a look of horror came to his face and he got up sharply.

"Sorry?" Marcia wondered, and then she added, "No pencil, Taylor?"

"It's vanished," he replied," you know how things disappear...it's like socks in the tumble dryer - you put two in, but only one comes out!"

And he laughed nervously as Penny rolled her eyes and shook her head and ducked back as Taylor's clumsy legs shifted position again.

"So I take it I can't persuade you to even consider my offer?" Marcia asked him.

There was a pause.

When Taylor spoke up again, his voice was strong and steady, spelling out the facts:

"Ms Glass, Braydon Electrics was founded by my great grandfather in 1932. It's been in my family for generations. My late father turned this company into a multi million dollar industry in the late '70s and it's continued to grow - and now I'm proud to take it into the billion dollar bracket as a cybernetics company. So no, I'll never sell up, to you or anyone. And I'm a busy man, so I'll ask my secretary to see you out now."

Penny breathed a sigh of relief as he spoke into the intercom, announcing that Ms Glass was ready to leave.

"I can see myself out," Marcia said sharply, and moments later, Penny heard the door open, and then close rather loudly.

* * *

_"We did it!"_ Taylor exclaimed, and he shifted his chair back and closed his eyes, breathing out slowly.

"Oh that was such a _rush_, Penny!" he said loudly – and just as he said that, Emma walked in.

She stared at Taylor, who was leaning back in his chair behind the desk with his eyes shut and a big smile on his face.

"It was _so_ exciting!" he said as Penny emerged from beneath the desk, _"I never thought I'd get away with that!"_

And then Penny said _Hi Emma,_ and Taylor opened his eyes and wondered why Emma looked so shocked.

"It's okay," he said, "Marcia didn't know."

"Didn't know what?" Emma said in a shocked voice. She had been thinking all morning about asking Taylor if he wanted to watch a movie with her that evening. Now she wasn't even sure if she knew him like she thought she did – and the idea of a date was cancelled.

Taylor had a big smile on his face as he got up from his seat.

"She didn't know Penny was under the desk!" he said excitedly, "Penny was down there the _whole tim_e that stupid Ms Glass was in my office...and she didn't have a clue what was _really_ going on!"

Emma stared at Taylor.

She blinked several times and then drew in a breath before speaking tense words:

"I don't want to know, Taylor!" she said sharply, "And I'm taking the afternoon off, I have a really bad headache!"

As Taylor looked at her, he wondered why she had tears in her eyes.

Emma turned away and quickly left the room, closing the door behind her.

Taylor stared after her, and then he looked to Penny with confusion in his eyes.

"She was mad at me!" he exclaimed,"Why?"

Penny thought about it and then she shook her head.

"Oh no...I think there's been a _big_ misunderstanding..."

* * *

Penny opened the door in time to see Emma grabbing her purse and getting ready to leave.

"Wait!" she said,"It's not the way it looked. I was hiding, because we don't trust Marcia's motives. I'm Inspector Gadget's niece, it might not have been the kind of tactic he would have used, but he's not here and I am, and I'm doing the best I can. So please, don't think anything was going on between me and Taylor."

By now Taylor had joined them, and he still had a puzzled expression on his face.

"Emma," he said, "listen to me - Penny was _under my desk_...what could we have been doing, except playing hide and seek? And I wouldn't play hide and seek in my office anyway, because there's no good places to hide!"

And then he smiled and his eyes lit up.

"But my house is great for hide and seek!" he told her, "It's really big and there's all kinds of places to hide! I bet if I hid, you wouldn't find me, you'd give up!"

And suddenly Emma was smiling again. She looked at Penny, then at Taylor, and then she shook her head.

"I guess I got it wrong," she said, and as she looked into Taylor's eyes her expression softened.

"I'll have to see that big house of yours," she remarked.

"I'd like you to do that," Taylor replied, and Penny cut in briefly, feeling slightly guilty for breaking up a moment that was clearly special to both of them.

"Sorry to interrupt," she said,"but this is important. Taylor, I want you to tell your security staff to remain vigilant from now on. I don't think they would try anything so soon after she came to see you, but it's better to play this safe. As soon as my Uncle's settled back at home and resting, I'll call you."

"Okay," Taylor replied, and then he turned back to Emma.

* * *

Penny left them to talk and walked away, heading back towards the elevator.

She wondered if more thoughts of killing Marcia Glass would invade her mind, but Marcia had already left and as she waited for the elevator, the memory remained but the thoughts were faded for now, and as the doors slid open Penny stepped inside and hit the button for the ground floor.

Then she looked at her reflection in the mirrored glass, seeing no cracks or splinters stained with Marcia's blood.

Those feelings of rage were still deep within her, but subsiding for now, sliding away back into darkness smoothly, just like the way the elevator glided downwards, slowly and gently. As the elevator reached the ground floor and the doors opened, she stepped out, walking back the way she came, leaving the building and heading for the Gadget Mobile.

Penny only had one thought uppermost on her mind now and it burned brighter than ever, even putting thoughts of revenge into the shade:

Her Uncle Gadget was getting better, he was coming home tomorrow - and for now, that was _all_ that mattered...

* * *

Bess waited until late in the afternoon before looking in on Gadget.

But as she opened his door, she stared at him in surprise.

"What do you think you're doing?" she exclaimed.

Gadget was dressed, his trench coat was open and he leaned against the table by the window as he turned to the mirror, ran his fingers through his hair and then put on his hat.

He turned rather stiffly and smiled at Bess.

"I'm feeling a lot better," he told her,"and I thought as Brenda had gone home, you wouldn't mind if I sneaked off early –"

"Oh yes I _do_ mind!" she said, walking into the room and standing in front of him with her arms folded, "Brenda said you can't leave until tomorrow. And she's right; you need to rest a little while longer."

"But I can rest at home. And I miss Penny and Brain and I want to be back in my own bed – please let me go home, Bess."

And Gadget looked at her pleadingly.

"It's the only place I want to be," he added.

Bess gave a sigh. She had been determined to follow Brenda's instructions, but as Gadget looked into her eyes, she knew he was wearing her down – she liked him too much to refuse...

She unfolded her arms and smiled as she placed her hand on the fabric of his trench coat and gave his arm a gentle squeeze.

"Brenda has already confirmed you're well enough to leave, she just put tomorrows date on the paperwork to keep you here another night because she cares. And I care too, but..."

Gadget was doing it again; looking at her pleadingly with sky blue eyes that made her want to melt into his arms, even though now was not the time to do that. She knew his eyes were cybernetic, yet they didn't look like artificial implants – now life was shining from them, together with something beautiful that warmed her heart. She guessed there had to be some truth in the old saying that the eyes were a window to the soul...

"I just want to go home," he said again.

"And I'll let you go home, Gadget "she replied, "but first I need to talk to you about something. You may not welcome this news but its for the best if you agree to it."

"Agree to what?" he asked her.

Bess began to explain.

"Braydon Industries have come up with a shield system for you, to make sure you have protection, just to be sure what happened to you at the party can never happen again. It's installed via a series of implants placed around your body. We have to wait a few days to make sure you're fully recovered, and then you'll need to come back to have the implant surgery. Is that okay, Gadget?"

She saw a flicker of apprehension in his eyes.

"More surgery?" he said nervously, "I don't know, Bess...I've been through enough."

"But this will ensure that you never suffer dangerous injury from an EMP attack again."

Gadget knew she was making sense, but all he wanted to do was walk away, go home, see Penny, see Brain, and enjoy being back in his own home once more. He wanted to go to sleep in his own bed, wake up there and push away the memory of the pain he had been through.

"Please think about it," Bess said, "it makes sense, you'll see that when you go home and take some time to get stronger."

Gadget avoided her gaze for a moment, looking away as he shook his head.

"I don't think I can do this," he told her quietly, "I will think about it, but right now all I want is to go home. I'm tired, Bess. I just want to go home and rest."

"It's a simple procedure," Bess told him, "and you'll be recovered in a day."

Gadget looked into her eyes.

"I fee like I've had enough," he said honestly, "and even if this shield can protect me, I'm sure Claw will just build something even more powerful to hit me with."

He blinked away tears that blurred his vision.

"I know when my life was saved after the explosion I was intended to be a cyborg crime fighter," he told her, "_but I'm also a man - and this man has had enough._ I've served this town for a long time. My niece is grown up now and I want to be around to see her get married and have kids. I want her children to call me Uncle Gadget. _But I won't be around to see any of that unless I leave the force._ I'll stay until Claw is back in jail – then I'm going for a very early retirement. I can't stay on, Bess. It was different in the old days – now there are smart weapons that can destroy more than half my body at the flick of a switch. I won't be able to stand up against that kind of threat forever."

"But once Claws captured –"

Gadget shook his head.

"Bess, I've made up my mind - this is my last case. And like I told you just now, I _really_ want to go home."

Pain still reflected in his eyes. She knew he was aching all over and feeling tired, it would take more rest for him to make a complete recovery - even to stand here and talk to her was draining for him; he was a cyborg recovering from repair work, he needed sleep.

"Okay," she said gently, "I'll drive you home."

Finally Gadget managed a smile.

"Thank you Bess," he said, "it's the only place I want to be."

* * *

The drive back home was a quiet one.

Gadget leaned back against the passenger seat as Bess drove down the road that would eventually lead him back to the one place he wanted to be. He closed his eyes as the motion of the car soothed away thoughts of the aches and pains that flickered through his body as wiring continued to heal into flesh.

Before they had left, Bess had spoken to the cops outside his door and asked for Quimby to be informed that Gadget was leaving, and he had listened as she arranged for police to be posted discreetly near the property to ensure his safety. Then she had paused, and said she hadn't realised cops were _already_ in place, out of sight in the woods nearby the house, just to be sure Penny was also safe...

Gadget felt as if the space where his human heart used to be was filled with weight as he thought about Claw, still out there somewhere...

They were almost at their destination when Bess spoke again.

"Quimby's instructing the press to say you're still at the cybernetics centre. And he's keeping some of his officers there so it looks as if nothing's changed. It's just to confuse Claw. He won't know how long your recovery will take, it's best if he doesn't know you've gone home."

"That makes sense," Gadget said as he opened tired eyes, "I don't like the idea of hiding from anyone, but I don't have a choice right now."

"You wont have to worry about a second attack one the shields in place," she reminded him.

And she briefly glanced at him.

Gadget's eyes still carried a look of apprehension.

_"I feel as if I'm just a machine - if there's a problem, just put more parts inside me and send me back on the job again..."_

"That's not true!" Bess exclaimed, "You _know _that, Gadget! Everyone who knows you loves you. Even Quimby was in tears after you got hit by that EMP!"

Gadget gave a sigh.

"I guess he was – he wouldn't want to lose his crime fighting machine..."

Bess focussed on the road as she tried not to think about how broken Gadget sounded.

"He sees you as much more than that – we _all_ do!"

And Bess stopped the car outside Gadget's house.

"Especially me," she said softly, "I care about you very much, probably more than you know."

Gadget looked into her eyes. He wanted to say so much but the words wouldn't come, because he was aching and tired and just wanted to be back in his own bed once more.

"I'm sorry, I can't do this," he said, "I just want to go to bed and sleep, Bess."

"Of course," she replied.

He got stiffly out of the car.

As he made his way up the path, Bess walked beside him noticing Brain was up against the window, his front paws pressed against it and his eyes shining as his tail wagged madly.

"Yes, I'm home at last, boy." Gadget said, turning the key in the lock.

"Shall I come in with you?" Bess offered.

Gadget had pushed the front door, but now held it a fraction open as he glanced back at her.

"No thanks," he told her, "I'll be fine."

And Bess felt an ache in her heart as she wondered if she had just blown her chances:

_Of course he was tired and emotional and wanted to sleep, but the way he had spoken had sounded so final._

"I mean it," she added, "I really do care about you, Gadget."

The look in his eyes softened.

"I know," he replied, "but its not a good time for this, Bess."

And she felt her hopes and dreams slip even further from her reach.

"I'll be stopping by in the morning to check on you," she reminded him, "just to be sure you're feeling okay."

"Thanks," Gadget replied, "I'll see you tomorrow."

And then he went inside and closed the door, leaving Bess on the doorstep.

She looked at the closed door and thought of all Gadget had been through. He seemed to be a mere shadow of the man who had taken her to the party. She didn't doubt that the ordeal had deeply affected him, it had affected him to such an extent that he was thinking of quitting the force – but she felt sure the look she had seen in his eyes on that night when he drove her to the party had been something real, something deep that seemed to promise there would be so much more between them.

It broke her heart to think Gadget was turning his back on everything, even on her – but she kept her tears back and walked down the path towards the car without looking back, hoping that rest and sleep would bring back more of the man she had fallen in love with.

* * *

Penny arrived home late in the evening. Since her Uncle had been injured, she had switched her self defence classes around to evenings so that she could spend much of the day at his side, but now he was getting better she had changed her plans again – cancelling all her classes for the next week.

It was partly because she wanted to be with him when he first came home, so she could reassure herself that he really was recovering. The other reason was, she needed the time set aside to go after Claw and Marcia while her Uncle was safely resting at home...

When she went into the house and shut the front door, she heard the pattering of Brain's small paws and as he ran out of the front room, joy shone in his eyes and he ran to greet her, jumping up for Penny to stroke the top of his head.

"What's up, Brain?" she asked, wondering why the dog was so excited. Since Gadget had been in the hospital Brain had missed him, he hadn't been _this_ happy in a long while...

The dog jumped down, ran in a circle and then looked towards the door that led to the front room and he wagged his tail and looked back at Penny.

"What?" she asked him, "You want me to go in the front room?"

Brain wagged his tail again and led the way, soft paws pattering on the polished wooden floor as he hurried on ahead, disappearing into the darkened room.

Penny followed him, pausing at the doorway to turn on the light.

As it came on she stared in surprise, and then blinked as her eyes filled up with tears:

_Her Uncle Gadget was home._

He was'nt supposed to be back until tomorrow, but he was already back, he was lying on the sofa sleeping deeply.

His hat was on the floor and his trench coat was draped over an arm chair and he had kicked off his shoes untidily onto the rug.

She watched him sleeping for a moment, and then she quietly made her way into the room and tidied his shoes away into the corner, picked up his coat and hat and then turned out the light.

She went back up the hallway and carefully hung up his coat in the usual place, then she hung his hat on the hook above it, and then Penny placed her hands on the fabric of his trench coat and grasped it tightly, pressing her face against it as she inhaled the scent of the only person she knew as family.

Then she let go of his coat, gently smoothed out the creases and went upstairs and opened up the cupboard where the spare blankets were kept.

She didn't turn the light back on as she went back into the front room, instead she just crept in, carefully put the blanket over him and then left the room again.

Penny had wanted to wake him, to hug and kiss him and tell him how happy she was that he was finally home, but she knew he was still healing and most of his healing would happen while he slept, so she held back on the urge to grab him and hug him and decided that she would have to wait until morning.

As she walked back upstairs, her arms ached because she longed to give him that welcome home hug. But she reminded herself everything was getting better now because he was back home again, and that thought was enough to bring her comfort as she went into her room and closed the door, feeling certain that from tonight onwards, sleep would come much easier, simply because her Uncle Gadget was back where he belonged.

* * *

Next morning, as Gadget woke to gentle kisses, he smiled before he opened his eyes.

"_Oh Bess..."_ he murmured.

And then as he became more aware, he realised the silky hair he was stroking was actually fur.

"_Brain!"_ Penny hissed, _"Stop it, you're waking him up!"_

And Brain wagged his tail and carried on licking Gadget's face.

Gadget sat up and Brain jumped off the sofa.

He saw Penny standing there and he smiled at his niece.

"I wasn't supposed to leave until today - but Bess let me go early, I got home last night. I meant to go to bed but once I sat down on the couch, I just wanted to sleep."

Penny walked over to him and put her arms around him and held him tightly, pausing to kiss his cheek before letting go again. She felt better now she had hugged him; her arms didn't ache any more.

"I'm so glad you're home," she said warmly.

Gadget smiled again and more of the old sparkle that had long been missing came back into his eyes.

"So am I, Penny," he said, and then he got up from the sofa, stretching stiffly.

"Are you okay?"

He heard anxiety creeping back into Penny's voice and put her fears to rest at once.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm still tired, I'm a bit sore where I have new connections healing, but I'm perfectly fine. I just need a hot shower, and then I'm going to bed."

"I'll be here all day if you need anything," she told him.

"You should be going to work," Gadget reminded her, "and you don't have to worry about me, I'm getting a visit from Bess today. She's got to call in and check on me."

Penny started to smile as she recalled the way he had said Dr Nightingale's name as he had woken up.

"Oh... _Bess is coming over_... well, I did have some stuff to do, so I might be going out later on."

Gadget smiled too.

"You don't have to leave us alone together –"

"Yes I do, because she's crazy about you! And now I'll make you some breakfast," Penny offered, "and some coffee –"

Gadget gave a sigh.

"I'll eat later, I just want to go back to sleep," he replied, but Penny had already hurried from the room to fix him something to eat.

* * *

Two hours later Bess parked her car outside Inspector Gadget's house. As she switched off the engine, her phone rang.

She recognized the number and took in a deep breath, before hitting the answer button and speaking brightly.

"Hi Brenda!" she said, "How's your week off so far?"

"Don't you _Hi Brenda_ me," she replied, sounding rather annoyed, "I told you, Gadget was supposed to be going home tomorrow! What did he do, give you puppy dog eyes and beg, and then your heart - not mention other parts - melted and you caved into him? I wanted him to spend one more night at the lab, just be to be sure he was well enough to go home."

"And he _is _well enough, and now it _is_ tomorrow," Bess replied, "and which parts of me melt when I look into his eyes are my business! I'm sorry I went against your instruction, but he really wanted to go home. I thought it might be better for him on a psychological level if he was out of there and back in his home environment."

Brenda's tone softened as she wondered about his state of mind.

"How does he seem to you? And did he take the news about the shield implants okay?"

"He's been through a lot," Bess replied, "but I think a few days at home will get everything into a better perspective for him. And like I said, I'm sorry for going against your instruction but I felt he would be better off at home."

"I heard Quimby got the local news to run a report saying he was still recovering at the lab. At least Claw won't know where he really is."

And Brenda paused.

"Take care of him, Bess."

"Of course I will. And don't worry, if there's a problem I'll call you."

"I know you will," Brenda replied, and she ended the call.

Then she grabbed her medical bag and got out of the car.

* * *

Gadget was on his bed, resting against pillows and wrapped in a bathrobe after a hot shower. He had been thinking about going back to sleep, but then Penny opened the door and hurried in.

"Bess is here!" she said brightly, "I'll just go downstairs and let her in and then I'm going out. I'm going out for a few hours. I mean, you can take it I won't be back until around three..."

Gadget laughed and his eyes sparkled.

"It's nine thirty in the morning. That's a long time to leave us alone together!"

"Exactly," she said, and she smiled at her Uncle and then left the room again.

As she hurried down the stairs, Gadget laughed softly:

_Penny was determined to treat every meeting between him and Bess as a potential date..._

Gadget cautiously stretched out his left arm.

"Go Go Gadget arm," he said, and his hand extended at the wrist, reached across the room and pushed the bedroom door wide open.

The arm extended back gracefully into place.

He stretched out his right hand, to be sure it also worked with the same ease, and as he said the command, he smiled. It was good to have his gadgets working once more...

"Go Go Gadget arm," he said again, and there was a buzz and a click as metal strained against flesh and his hand trembled, tensed, his fingers curled and uncurled and the mechanism painfully locked into spasm.

Penny had just called out _Goodbye._

He heard the door shut.

"I'm coming up to see you, Gadget!" Bess called out.

Gadget gripped at his wrist and drew in a sharp breath as more pain spread through his arm.

"Okay..." he said, trying to hold back from yelling out.

He took in some deep breaths as he fought against the pain.

Bess came into the room and stared at him.

"What's wrong?" she said in alarm.

Gadget was still gripping at his wrist.

"Help me," he said as he began to break out in a sweat, "my arm extension's locked..."

Bess caught a flash of panic in his eyes.

"_This shouldn't be happening!"_ he said, _"What's gone wrong with me now?"_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Bess hurried over to Gadget's bedside and sat down.

He stopped gripping his painful arm as she gently took hold of it.

"What happened?"

He was still sweating as he fought against the pain and his fingers twitched and stiffened.

"I tried to extend my arm. The other one was fine, but this one just locked up, I feel like the cables trying to rip itself away from my internal wiring!"

"Take your robe off, just the top half," she said, and as she helped him to loosen it Gadget struggled out of it, folding it down to his waist as he managed to free his locked up arm.

He leaned back against the pillows and looked down at his hand, it was still twitching as she straightened out his arm and turned it over, placing it carefully at his side.

"Can you keep still?"

"Yes, but my hand won't!"

As he spoke his fingers curled up sharply and pain shot up his arm again.

"You'll have to open it up and see what's wrong," Gadget told her.

Bess felt a flicker of alarm as she looked down at the pale scar that ran down the middle of his arm from wrist to elbow.

"Here?" she said, "Right now, you want me to –"

Pain shot through his arm again and Gadget took in a sharp breath as he glanced at her medical bag.

"That scar tissue is made of cybernetic skin. It's painless to open and it's self sealing, it will close up easily...just get a scalpel and unzip it and see what's wrong with me."

Bess hesitated.

"I don't want to hurt you..."

"I think I'm already hurting enough, Bess! Just unzip it!"

"_Unzip_ _it._.. _okay._.." she said nervously as she opened up the bag and carefully drew out a scalpel.

"You'd better keep still," she warned him, "if you move, I'm slicing into human tissue and that's going to mean blood and stitches and it's _really_ going to hurt!"

Gadget turned his face away, fixing his gaze on the wall. He knew his hand was still twitching as internal cables went into spasm, and the last thing he felt like doing was watching as Bess sliced him open.

"_Just do it, hurry up!"_

Bess gently pinned down his wrist and then took in a deep breath, fighting the urge to put down the knife and call Brenda. This was tough because she loved the guy; she didn't want to be doing anything painful to him...

"I guessing the problem is just below the elbow," she said, "where the tensions controlled..."

And she placed the blade cautiously in the middle of the scar and applied slight pressure. The cybernetic skin split and she ran the knife up to the top of the scar.

As she drew the scalpel away and placed it on the table, the incision opened up, pulled wide by the movement of the trembling cables within that jerked as Gadget's fingers twitched, the silver inner workings of his arm glistened, covered with cybernetic fluid that kept the parts moving effortlessly.

"Is it opened up?" Gadget asked her.

Bess was looking into the exposed machinery and as she saw what the problem was, she recalled how she had been fixing the tension on his cables and been briefly distracted, when Brenda had stopped working on his lower body to check his new heart was still functioning smoothly. As she had reached for the monitor, Bess had looked down at Gadget, who was pale and unconscious and she had briefly feared the worst, until Brenda has assured her he was okay, she had just been checking the signal...

"Is it open now, can I look?" he said impatiently.

"Yes, it's done," she told him, and Gadget looked down at the exposed workings inside his arm.

He had spotted the error too, and as he saw the cover that held the cables and the single screw buried down tight he stared at it, and then looked at Bess in disbelief.

"What idiot screwed my tension control down _that _tight?"

"_This idiot,"_ Bess said quietly, "I'm sorry, Gadget – I was worried about you and I let my concentration slip for a second..."

Pain shot down his arm as the cables trembled again and his hand twitched.

"Just ease it up, partly unscrew it. I'll tell you when to stop."

Bess blinked back tears as she took out a small case of surgical screwdrivers and selected the correct size.

"I _know_ how it's supposed to be," she said as she avoided his gaze and looked down at his exposed cables, "I made a mistake, and I'm really sorry..."

"Just do it slowly," Gadget told her as she carefully began to turn the screw back.

As she turned it, the tension began to ease and the spasm stopped.

Gadget took a deep breath.

"Oh that's so much better!" he said in relief, and as she replaced the screwdriver and took some surgical tape from her bag, she kept her eyes down, focussing on her task as she held the wound together, taping up the seal.

"Thanks for fixing me," Gadget said, "I feel fine now."

_And Bess gave no answer._

"I said it's okay now," Gadget repeated, but her hair had fallen forward and he could barely see her face as she finished taping the wound.

"It was painless," he added as he started to smile, "_eventually_ – when you unscrewed it..."

She turned away as she packed up her medical bag and closed it.

"Bess?" he said, and reached out with his taped up arm that now worked perfectly, gently closing his fingers over her hand as she drew it back from her bag, "What's the matter?"

She finally looked up at him.

Tears were streaming down her face as she blinked and tried to compose herself.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you; I never meant that to happen, Gadget."

He expression softened as he brushed away her tears.

"It's just a mistake, Bess!"

"But I'm a cybernetic surgeon! What if I'd made a _serious_ mistake? Oh, Gadget I'm so sorry I hurt you like that!"

"It's fine," he said quickly, putting his arms around her and pulling her closer.

As he held her she rested her head against his shoulder; his skin felt warm but the metal plating beneath felt solid.

_"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I made you suffer, you've been through enough –"_

Gadget kept hold of her as he gently pulled her back and looked into her eyes.

"Forget about it," he said softly, "I'm fine now."

"But I hurt you!"

Gadget drew her closer and kissed her.

That kiss took Bess by surprise as their lips touched lightly, then he pressed harder and as he drew back again she saw longing in his eyes, but then the look was gone and he smiled.

"You just kissed me!" she said in surprise.

"I wanted to stop you crying!"

"Is that all?" Bess wondered.

Gadget's eyes sparkled with warmth that she hadn't seen since the night of the Mayor's party.

"No, I wanted to kiss you any way!" he admitted, and then he laughed softly, and Bess finally smiled as her tears stopped flowing.

As he held her again she leaned against his shoulder, thinking how it seemed crazy that this man with strong metal beneath his warm skin could have been so badly wounded only a short time ago – now as he held her, it seemed as if all trace of weakness had left him.

"Are you all right now?" he said gently.

And Bess ached for him to hold her again as he let go of her.

"Yes," she replied, and she was smiling again.

And then she recalled the reason for her visit.

"I should be asking _you_ that question. That's why I'm here!"

Gadget leaned back against his pillows, comfortable on his own bed as he gave an easy sigh.

Bess couldn't help but allow her gaze to wander over his bare, toned chest where microchips illuminated down the center.

"As you can see, I'm in good shape," Gadget replied as he looked at her playfully, "I'm still aching where the new wiring's settling in but I'm feeling okay. No problems to report - apart from the tension being too tight in my cable but you did a wonderful job of fixing that."

"Mind if I check your heart?"

"Go ahead."

Gadget had spoken calmly, but as she got a small device out of her bag he hoped she didn't spot the look of discomfort in his eyes; she placed it against the left side of his chest and watched as the digital display reeled off a series of numbers, reporting on the functions of his artificial heart. It felt strange for such an instrument to be used to check his heart. For one moment he had expected her to use a stethoscope and then he had remembered there was no point because his human heart was gone, and he felt that sense of loss once more.

He wondered as he watched her tracking his cyborg heart rate:

_How could he still feel emotions that he had always thought resided in the piece of him they had been forced to cut away?_

He seemed to feel just as he did before, even though his human heart was gone.

Gadget was sure he was feeling the stirrings of love too; it happened every time he looked at Bess and it was still happening - even though his heart was now a piece of machinery...

Bess turned off the monitoring device and put it back in her medical bag.

"Your hearts fine," she assured him.

"I know it is," Gadget replied, _"I'm starting to think it might even be capable of falling in love."_

And as he caught the look in her eyes, he knew for sure she felt the same way.

Bess smiled, and then she looked away.

"I didn't know how you felt about anything after what you went through, Gadget."

He gently placed his hand on her cheek and she looked up and met his gaze.

"My feelings for you never changed," he told her,"I'm _still _crazy about you."

And as she leaned in and they kissed again, he was sure his heart would pound, but he couldn't feel it even though the rest of his body was fired up in all the usual ways it responded to passion.

And then he broke off from their kiss.

"And I hate to say this, but I need some more sleep. I feel like I could sleep for hours!"

Bess got up, she was aching for him in so many ways but she knew he needed to rest now.

"Then I'll go back to work," she told him, "and I'll stop by tomorrow."

As she got up, Gadget caught her hand, gripping it easily now his cable was fixed.

"Maybe you could come over tonight," he suggested, "just to make sure its okay for me to take the tape off my arm."

Bess was briefly confused.

"But it's _self sealing_..."

And as Gadget smiled, so did she and her face flushed a little.

"Are you sure you won't be asleep?"

"I'm going to spend all day sleeping. I'll be fine tonight. Come over about seven thirty?"

Bess wanted to squeal with joy but she kept her excitement under control even though the big smile on her face gave it away.

"I'll be over at seven thirty to check your _self sealing_ cybernetic skin has closed up," she replied, "I'll see you then."

And she picked up her bag, pausing to lean over the bed and kiss his cheek.

As she left the room, Gadget settled back on his bed and smiled as his eyes shone with joy:

_At last, he had another chance with Bess Nightingale..._

* * *

Marcia Glass felt as if she was walking on eggshells.

The news that she had failed to talk Taylor into handing over his company had not been well received by Claw.

"I tried," she said, repeating the same explanation over again that he still refused to accept.

He was sitting in the arm chair, a glass of wine in front of him that he had barely touched. The TV was on and he had just heard a news report that Inspector Gadget was expected to remain at Riverton cybernetics centre for the next three days.

"I heard your pathetic excuse the first time," he murmured as he looked back at the screen. The news had finished and he wasn't watching the images that flickered across the screen now; he was still thinking about the news report.

"They said he's still recovering. They don't have anything else to report..."

And he slammed his Claw against the table with a sharp crack that split the surface of the polished wood and sent the wine glass toppling to the floor, its contents spilling out like spattered blood on to the pale carpet.

Marcia looked at him nervously.

Claws eyes were blazing.

"Why?" he said in a low voice, "_Why_ did they fail to mention I paid him a visit? This should have been all over Riverton by now!"

"Maybe Quimby wants to avoid a panic," she suggested.

Anger still blazed in his eyes.

"And why did you fail at such a simple task, Marcia? Taylor Braydon's an idiot – it should have been simple to talk him into selling his business!"

"But you don't know what he's like," Marcia explained," Taylor said the company has been in his family for generations – he has no intention of selling up to me or anyone!"

Claw fell silent for a moment, giving a heavy sigh as he weighed up his options.

"This is such a simple plan," he told her,"I can't believe I'm coming up against so many problems with it! First Quimby orders a news black out, then that idiot Braydon won't let go of his company..."

He looked sharply at Marcia.

"All I need to do is take Braydon Industries. Then I can set off a few wider ranging devices. The pulse will kill off quite a few cyborgs, but many more will sustain enough injury to live with their wiring severely damaged. I want a world full of broken cyborgs who need parts...who will have to come to _me_ and pay _my_ price for those parts. I want take over Taylor's company and then other companies too - I can see this working out, I can see myself owning the entire cybernetics industry eventually, and cyborgs will be willing to pay _anything_ for the life saving components they need! Do you see how simple this is?"

She still felt nervous; that crash as he hit the table with his metal pincer was still ringing in her ears as he spoke up again.

"Your plan for world domination? Yes...I see your point..."

And then she fell silent once more.

Claw was still thinking about his options.

"His mother died a few years back. His father's gone too because he inherited the business three years ago...he's an only child, no wife or children... there must be _someone _Taylor Braydon can't live without..."

Marcia stared at him.

"You're not thinking about kidnap?"

That hardened look was still in Claw's eyes.

"He's an idiot," Claw repeated, "if I could take someone away from him, someone he's very fond of..."and as he formulated his plan, he began to smile.

"Yes,..." he said smugly, "I can see him handing over Braydon Industries in exchange for me sparing the life of someone he cares about – he's like that, putting people before profit. _Like I said, the man's an idiot_!"

Then as Marcia held back from voicing her concerns for fear of sending him into a rage, Claw sat there for a moment as he continued to think.

"There has to be _someone_ he cares about," he said thoughtfully, "we just need to find out who it is..."

* * *

As the sun began to sink lower in the sky and evening approached, Emma stood in the vast front room of Taylor's mansion and looked around.

"_Where is he?"_ she wondered.

He had taken her back to his house to show her around, and then suggested hide and seek would be fun...

Emma had searched the whole of the ground floor, from the kitchen to the front room; and then she had paused to open a door beneath the stairs only to find it contained a vacuum cleaner and other cleaning materials.

"Taylor?" she called out, and her voice echoed around the vast hallway.

Then she looked up the staircase.

"He's hiding upstairs!" she exclaimed, and hurried up to find him.

When she reached the top of the stairs she looked left and right, the hallway ran a long way both sides and there were several doors to try.

The first door she tried was an empty spare room. She checked wardrobes looked under the bed and found nothing.

The same happened with the next room, and the third door opened up into a games room. There was no where to hide in here, one glance around the room told her that.

Then she saw the long drapes beside the window and wondered if he was behind them.

Emma crept up to the drapes and pulled them back – but he wasn't there.

She left the room and headed for the door at the end of the upper hallway.

As she opened it and found herself in a huge bedroom, she looked around:

The drapes were open and didn't touch the floor, so he definitely wasn't hiding there.

Then she went over to a sliding mirrored door and as it rolled back she realised she was looking into a walk in wardrobe.

She turned on the light and ran her hand over rows of suits and shirts and coats...but there was no Taylor.

Emma turned around, saw a blanket box at the bottom of a big, soft bed and she opened it up - he wasn't hiding there, either...

Then she opened the bathroom door and looked around the large, marbled bathroom. There was a shower and the curtain was closed, so she pulled it back.

He wasn't there.

She gave a sigh.

"Oh Taylor, where _are_ you?" she said aloud, "I've been everywhere, the garage, the swimming pool, all the rooms downstairs...I can't find you!"

"Boo!" Taylor said playfully, popping up from his hiding place in the large bath tub in the corner of the room that was shaped like a sea shell.

Emma laughed.

"I didn't think to look over there!"

Taylor climbed out of the bath.

"I can't believe you didn't look in there!"

"Taylor, I've looked in so many places I've lost count!"

And Taylor laughed.

"I told you this would be fun! Now what do you think about me calling a pizza and then we can sit down and watch a movie?"

Emma smiled.

"That sounds like fun, I'd love to!"

They left the bathroom and Taylor closed the door.

He paused for a moment, looking into her eyes.

"Wanna sleep over?" he said excitedly.

Emma laughed softy as she hugged him, and then kissed him gently. Taylor was taken by surprise and he froze for a moment, but then he held her closer and kissed her again before letting go.

"So you want to do it?" he said hopefully.

Emma nodded as she felt her hopes rising at the thought of them finally being together in the way she had dreamed about for so long.

"I'd like that more than anything!" she told him.

"Great!" Taylor said as he turned back towards the bedroom, "I'll go and fetch the sleeping bags!"

"_Sleeping bags?"_ Emma wondered, and then it suddenly dawned on her, Taylor wasn't asking her to spend the night in his bed with the two of them sharing their passion...When he had said he wanted her to spend the night with him, he had actually meant, would she like a _sleepover._..

* * *

After Bess had left earlier, Gadget had called Penny and told her she could come home any time she liked – because Bess had gone. And then he had happily told her that Bess was coming over that evening and he _was_ considering it a date – if the fact that he needed to be at home resting and she would be there with him sounded like a sort of date...

Penny had been thrilled for him.

She had called a girlfriend and gone over to her house at six in the evening, telling Gadget she guessed he would need a lot of time to get ready, so she was going to leave early.

Gadget had just smiled and agreed with her, even though he was still in his bathrobe and had only just woken up after a sleep that had once again restored his energy. He wasn't going out any where and Bess didn't expect him to make any sort of special effort - but she _did_ expect him to be taking things easy, and he was sure she wouldn't have been too impressed if she had arrived and he was dressed and ready to take her out somewhere, because she wanted him to take things easy while the last of his connections healed.

Gadget had gone to the bathroom to freshen up and then he had paused to carefully peel back the tape that covered the break in the seal inside his arm. Of course the cybernetic seam had joined painlessly back together, but he pressed the taped down again and smiled as he looked back at his reflection.

He was aware he carried the faint smell of sweat and oil, it was just a trace but he decided not to wash it away because that was the scent of his seventy per cent cyborg body, and if things were going the way he hoped they would, he wanted her to get used to that scent, because there was nothing he could do to change it any way; it was just the way his body worked now...

Gadget opened his bathrobe and briefly glanced at his body:

He was firm and mostly covered with flesh, some his own and some artificial, the exposed metal plating on his lower body gleamed against the harshness of the bathroom light and his view shifted down to the sensors on the upper part of the plate that covered his groin.

Then he closed his robe again.

"_She's a cybernetics expert, she knows what to expect,"_ he murmured, then he combed his hair and turned away from the mirror, recalling how differently he felt about his own body now he was a cyborg:

_At first he had felt like so much was missing from the days when he had been completely human. But in time, he had got used to his modifications and eventually had learned that everything could be just as good, sometimes even better - being part machine instead of flesh. He was hoping Bess would know that too, because even though he was comfortable with his cyborg body, when it came to intimacy, the first time was always difficult for him even if he didn't show it - because he never knew how a new partner would react..._

Then Gadget went back in the bedroom to get some more rest. It was still early; Bess wouldn't be here for another hour...

He pushed away his doubts again and recalled the sparkle in her eyes as she had smiled at him, and then Gadget found himself smiling too.

"She _does_ want you," he said quietly, _"she loves you just like you love her..."_

And then he settled back on his bed, watching the clock and wishing it was seven thirty already.

* * *

Taylor and Emma were sitting close together on the floor in the front room while they waited for a movie to start on his huge TV screen.

He was half in his sleeping bag and Emma was sitting on top of hers as they share a pizza.

"This is fun!" Taylor said brightly.

Emma smiled and nodded.

"I could get used to having fun with you Taylor," she replied, resisting the urge to tell him she loved him, because the moment just didn't seem right.

Taylor finished eating and pushed the pizza box aside and turned to her, looking into her eyes with a serious expression.

"I want you to know something about me." He said quietly," I just hope it won't be the only reason why you want me. I'd _hate_ to think that once you know my secret you'd just see me as an object of desire!"

Emma's pizza slice drooped in her hand and the toppings began to slide off.

She put the food down and looked at him intently.

"What are you talking about, Taylor? I think you're a lovely guy – I really care about you, I think you're the nicest, kindest person I've ever known. What did you mean about an object of desire?"

Taylor swallowed hard, pausing as he tried to choose his words carefully.

"Well... you and me are getting closer, so I feel I _must_ tell you my secret!"

He had spoken so dramatically.

Emma blinked and shook her head.

"Secret? Okay, you can tell me this secret, I won't tell anyone else."

He took in a deep breath.

"_I'm a cyborg. I have man metal deep inside me. I have titanium heart._ Now you know I hope you won't just see me as a sex object! Please don't lose respect for me and jump on me and use me and –"

"_Taylor!"_

As she said his name, his racing imagination came to a sharp halt as he stopped talking.

To his surprise, Emma did not look as if she felt inspired to jump on him, despite the fact that she knew about his man metal. Her eyes were filled with compassion.

"You had to have your heart replaced? Oh Taylor, I'm so sorry! Why did that happen?"

"I had a car accident a long time ago," Taylor relpied, "that's why I turned my business into a cybernetics company – I want to help other people the way I was helped once."

Emma's eyes filled with warmth.

"You really are the kindest man I've ever known," she told him, and she gave him a hug and a brief kiss before letting go again.

"So you're not overcome by lust?" he wondered, "I would have thought you wouldn't be able to control yourself, not now you know I have man metal."

Emma giggled.

"Why do you call it man metal?"

"Because it's the kind of metal that women lust after!" he exclaimed, "Women can't resist cyborgs!"

Emma giggled again.

"Oh Taylor, that's a _very _old myth...that rumor started up when cybernetic technology started to became popular a few years back...it's _not _true..."

"_It is!"_ Taylor insisted, "If you don't believe me I can show you _hundreds_ of robofetish websites that prove I'm right! All a cyborg has to do on one of those sites is get naked - and women just climb on! I've seen the pictures! I've been looking at them for years!"

And then his eyes widened as a sudden thought hit him:

"If Inspector Gadget ever wanted a change of career, he'd make a _fortune_ on those sites, showing off his man metal to all those ladies who wear nothing but high heels and a thong..."

Emma was still laughing.

"They're called _porn sites!_"

"No they're not - they're _cybernetically artistic_ websites!" Taylor insisted, "And women can't resist man metal!"

Emma looked at him fondly.

"_Man metal?_ I do love you Taylor, come here..."

And as she held him close, she suddenly realised she had said something she had intended to hold back.

But as Taylor let go he looked into her eyes and smiled.

"I love you too," he replied, "now let's sit together and finish the pizza and watch the movie."

As she glanced at Taylor, he just smiled again and looked back at the screen.

Emma said nothing more as she sat there wondering if he had realized _exactly _what she had meant:

_She had just told him she loved him, didn't he get it?_

* * *

Gadget felt slightly nervous as he opened the door to Bess Nightingale.

"How are you?" she asked him fondly, and for a moment he said nothing as his gaze wandered over the pale yellow dress she was wearing, it skimmed her thighs and clung to her body in all the right places and as he looked back into her eyes he smiled.

"I'm feeling a lot better, and you look lovely," he said honestly.

She thanked him for saying that and he opened the door wider and stepped back.

As Bess walked in, Gadget closed the door behind her and as she turned and looked at him, he saw that fondness in her eyes that had been present ever since they had first met, and he knew he wasn't wrong about making a move to take it further.

"Wel... I said I was fine," he added, "but I'm not sure. I need you take a look at the wound for me, it's been itching."

Confusion clouded her eyes.

"How can it itch, it's a cybernetic seal, it's artificial skin?"

"I don't know," Gadget replied, "I think we should go upstairs and do this - just in case the scar opens up and fluid spills out all over the hallway..."

And he quickly turned away so she couldn't see the smile on his face as he headed for the stairs.

Bess followed him up, thinking about what he had said.

"But you're a cyborg, your machine parts and cybernetic seals have their own composition that works independently to your human body...you _can't_ get an infection..."

Gadget had reached his bedroom door.

He pushed it open and went inside and sat down on his bed.

"I don't know about that," he said to her, using every ounce of his self control not to laugh, "I mean, _you_ repaired it...maybe something _else_ went wrong..."

And she sat down beside him and looked at him sharply, but then she noticed the sparkle in his eyes.

"Stop it, Gadget!" she said, "Roll up your sleeve and show me."

He pushed up the sleeve of his bathrobe and turned his arm over.

"Does it hurt?" she asked him.

"No," he replied.

"Can you extend your arm to the same length as the other one?"

"Yes, it all works fine...it just feels like you forgot to do something for me..."

She shook her head.

"No, I did everything right, I'm sure of it..."

She cautiously peeled the tape away from his arm, and then carefully ran her finger along the closed seal.

"It looks fine to me."

Gadget reached out and ran his fingers trough her hair.

As their eyes met she knew at once Inspector Gadget was not shy when it came to intimacy, nor was he insecure about his cyborg body, the look in his eyes said it all – he was a confident lover...

"_You forgot to kiss it better, Dr Nightingale,"_ he said as he smiled and his eyes sparkled.

As he put his arms around her, Bess gently kissed the repaired scar, and then Gadget pulled her back gently on to the bed.

His hands were resting on her hips, then one hand extended at the wrist, snaking around the back of her dress to unzip it.

She caught her breath as he gently pulled on the loosened material and it slid to the floor.

Bess kicked off her shoes and moments later her under wear was sliding off too, and as his hand retracted back into place he looked down at her as she lay on her back on his bed, breathless as her eyes darkened with desire.

He looked fondly at her as he ran his hand over her hair.

"You want to be with me?" he asked her softly.

Bess nodded.

"More than anything, Gadget..."

On hearing those words, Gadget untied his robe and stripped it off, letting it fall to the floor.

"Do you like what you see?"

Bess ran her hands down his chest as her gaze wandered over his naked body.

"You're perfect," she whispered, "I want you so much, Gadget..."

And he kissed her gently, she held him close, feeling the warmth and firmness of his cyborg body against her skin.

Gadget broke off from a passionate kiss and looked into her eyes again.

"I love you, Bess," he said, "I think you love me too, am I right? I hope I'm right..."

"You are right, I _do_ love you." She whispered as she kissed him again.

Then Gadget pulled back and reached into the drawer beside the bed.

As he took out the lubricating gel Bess felt a flash of panic and desperately tried to recall what Brenda had said to her about making him feel confident...

"Don't worry," Bess said, taking the gel from him, "I know what to do, I know how to make you feel as if nothing is missing."

Gadget was briefly confused, and then he smiled and shook his head.

"I appreciate you asking _Brenda_ for advice but there was no need, I'm perfectly happy with the way my body is designed. If I could have my old one back I wouldn't want it," he told her, "because the feelings I'm capable of enjoying as a cyborg are mind blowing."

His remark surprised her.

"Really?"

Gadget smiled.

"Yes, really," he promised her.

Then he took the tube of gel from her hand.

"I don't need this yet," he said softly as he ran his hand down her body, "I don't need to start with me; I'm starting with _you_, honey..."

Bess watched as he put a small amount of gel on to his hand, and then he lay beside her and slid his hand between her thighs.

She gave a gasp as the gel glided over sensitive, smooth skin.

"_I see you're more than ready for me,"_ he murmured in her ear.

"I was ready for you on the night of the party too," she told him, and as his hand slid down further, the gel gliding beneath his fingertips, she caught her breath, letting Gadget take over.

* * *

The movie had ended.

Taylor leaned over and gave Emma a brief kiss.

His eyes shone with happiness as he looked at her.

"Goodnight," he said, and reached for the lamp on the table and snapped off the light.

Then she heard him snuggling down into the sleeping bag, and then he shifted about, then snuggled down some more.

Emma waited there in the dark, but Taylor did not move any closer.

"It was fun tonight," she said, hoping to keep the conversation going, "I love being with you, Taylor."

"I love being with you too, Emma." he replied.

Emma folded back her open sleeping bag, shifted over and slid her hand down Taylor's sleeping bag, finding the zip and giving it a tug.

"You can get in with me if you want to," Taylor said, "I'd like that."

Emma pulled the zip down further and got in beside him, shifting closer as he put his arm around her.

"This is nice," he said as they embraced, "it's like camping in the woods!"

Emma blinked.

"Camping?"

"Yeah, I used to go camping with my Dad when I was a kid. It was a lot of fun! We used to build a campfire and toast marshmallows and sing songs and..."

He yawned.

"It was fun..."

"We could still have more fun," Emma said softly.

Taylor's head was resting on her shoulder and had suddenly become heavy.

Emma lay in his arms in the dark as she reached up and fondly stroked his hair.

"Goodnight, Taylor," she said, and Taylor said nothing in reply as he lay there, snoring gently.

* * *

As soon as the light went out in the Braydon mansion, the car that was parked far off near the gates started up and began to drive away.

As Marcia drove, she felt nervous, wondering if they had been caught on camera spying on the property like that.

But Claw was not concerned about anything now; Claw was smiling as he looked at her.

"It was worth hanging around to see who came and left – or should I say, _didn't_ leave," he remarked, "and now we know what to do."

And as they drove away, Marcia felt her insides twist into knots...was there _nothing_ this man wouldn't do to get what he wanted?

"But you're talking about abducting someone," she said, "where are you planning on keeping our prisoner?"

And Claw glanced at her and smiled.

"_My place?"_ Marcia said in horror.

He ignored her dismay as he thought about his plan.

"It's going to be easy!" he said as he watched his pincer gracefully rotate left and right, "We'll take the girlfriend. Taylor Braydon will soon hand his company over to get her back."

And he laughed as malice shone in his eyes.

"Now my plan should move along smoothly. We've found the one special person in his life,"Claw said darkly_, "and we'll take her, we'll take Emma tomorrow morning..."_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Bess whispered Gadget's name as she clung to him.

"I've got you, Bess," he murmured. His breath was warm against her face, their bodies close, her skin damp as she slid against her lover's body and he moved against her. As she felt him taking over, she lost awareness of everything but this moment:

_The weight of him, the warmth of his skin, and the firmness beneath it that reminded her this man was a cyborg, metal beneath flesh; that flesh was so heated the bedroom had filled with the scent of oil and masculine sweat..._

Gadget had taken his time, handling her patiently, holding her back even while his touch and his kisses and the slow and deliberate attention he had paid her where she needed it the most had almost taken her over the edge. At first the heat from his sensors had felt intense, almost burning as their bodies made contact intimately for the first time... He had held her and continued to move against her as he looked into her eyes. And he had whispered that this would get easier if she let go and let it happen...

Now she clung to him harder, desperate for that scorching heat to meet with her own body as one more movement against her, the slightest pressure from the heat that radiated from him sent her over the edge. She clutched at his shoulders as she cried out and he silenced her with a kiss that smothered her, keeping her in his embrace as he finally allowed his pleasure sensors to reach peak and Bess gasped as he crushed her tightly, breathing out slowly against her shoulder, then he kissed her again, trembling as the powerful rush that swept though his body felt like an overload.

Sweat ran down his face as Gadget let go of her and rolled on to his back.

Bess was still breathless as she began to come back to her senses, but as Gadget breathed heavily too he soon recovered, taking a deep breath and turning his head and meeting her gaze with a look of love.

"Are you okay?" he said softly, turning on his side as he ran his hand over her damp hair.

Bess was still getting her breath back as she smiled.

"That was amazing," she said, and as he saw the look in her eyes he knew this was not something Brenda had advised her to say - she was happy, she was satisfied and he saw love in her eyes and that gave him all the answers he needed.

"I love you," Gadget whispered, and pulled her closer, embracing her as he blinked away tears of joy and her head rested against his chest.

She couldn't hear his artificial heart because there was no audible beat, but as she listened to the machine sounds inside his body she closed her eyes, shifting closer to his the warmth of his skin, wanting to feel this way forever, to be warm beside him for the rest of her life as they shared their love and then embraced in a room that smelled of sweat and oil.

* * *

Taylor Braydon woke early and after getting showered and changed, woke Emma with a kiss to her cheek.

"I made you coffee and scrambled eggs, I left it on the table in the dining room," he said and smiled as she blinked tired eyes and sat up, folding back the sleeping bag.

She looked around the large front room and saw morning sunlight streaming through the window.

"We slept here all night on the floor?"

Taylor chuckled.

"I told you it would be fun!"

As Emma moved to get up, Taylor reached for her and briefly grasped her hand, pulling her to her feet.

"I'll leave you to have breakfast," he said, "I have a phone call to make, it's just business."

"Shouldn't I be doing that for you?" she asked him.

Taylor looked at Emma, thought of how he felt about her and then decided his plan with Penny to go after Claw, was something that Emma definitely did _not_ need to know about - he cared about her far too much to involve her in what could prove to be a dangerous situation.

"It's not secretary stuff," he said as a flash of panic came to his eyes and he groped around for a plausible excuse, "it's about some other stuff, don't worry about it... just enjoy your breakfast."

"What _are_ you taking about?" she wondered, but Taylor had bolted from the room with his cell phone in his hand.

* * *

Taylor went out into the large garden, walked around the swimming pool and then off across the lawn before looking back at the house to check that Emma had not followed him.

He called Penny's number and stood in the middle of the lawn as the morning sun rose higher and brighter and he waited for an answer.

"Hi," Penny said in a tired voice.

"Are you okay?" Taylor asked her.

"Yeah, fine...me and a girlfriend stayed up late, watched a movie, had two bottles of wine, I crashed out on the couch and now I want to go back to sleep. What _is_ it, Taylor?"

Confusion filled his mind on hearing that question.

"What's what?" he asked her, "I don't get it..."

Penny gave a sigh.

_"What do you want?"_

Taylor glanced back at the house; there was still no sign of Emma.

"I was wondering if we ought to be going after Claw today."

"No, not until my Uncle Gadget's been back home for a few days. I want to make sure he's okay before I leave him."

Taylor frowned.

"But you're not with him now..."

"Bess is with him. At least, I hope she still is - he had a date with her last night."

"That's great!" Taylor said warmly, "I'm so glad he's got a girlfriend!"

Penny gave another tired sigh.

"Just let me go back to sleep, Taylor. I'll call you when I'm ready to go after Claw. Just remember what I said about keeping your security staff alert."

"That's done," he assured her, "they're aware there's the possibility of a threat."

"Well that's all you can do for now," Penny told him, "so just let me go back to sleep, Taylor. I'll call you when its time to make a move."

"I'll be waiting for that call," Taylor replied, "I'm up for this, I'm trained to handle hostile situations –"

The call cut off.

Taylor put his phone back in his pocket.

"Okay," he said, "I'll wait for you to call me..."

And he took a slow walk back to the house.

* * *

When Taylor reached the dining room, Emma was finishing breakfast.

He walked the length of the long, polished table and pulled up a chair beside her.

"Thanks," Emma said as she finished her food and took a sip from her coffee,"this has been really nice, Taylor."

And her gaze lingered and Taylor didn't want to look away. He caught a look in her eyes and felt the needed to explain his situation before she got the wrong idea and thought he cared about her as nothing more than a friend.

"I'd like to be with you more often, and closer too," he said carefully, pausing to run his fingers through his fair hair as he tried to find the right words, "but I decided a long time ago that I wouldn't do that... I mean, not _all_ the way...with any girl, except the one I marry. I think its because when I was younger my parents warned me that the wrong kind of girls might want to get me in bed because I'm rich and not too smart and they might use me...I know they were right, I've had girlfriends but I've never gone all the way with them because I never met anyone I cared about enough."

Then his voice dropped a little as he looked into her eyes and he took hold of her hand.

"I've never gone all the way with a girl," he confessed, "because I never met the right one. But I think you could be the right one. I hope what I told you is okay...I hope you don't mind that I'm a virgin."

Emma felt nothing but deepest love as she smiled at Taylor.

"I think that's so sweet!" she told him,"Of course don't mind, why should I mind? And I do love you, Taylor. I love you very much."

Taylor smiled, and then slipped his arms around her and as their lips met their kiss became deep and passionate very quickly.

"I love you too!" Taylor said excitedly as he let go of her, and then he got up and so did Emma and they walked out of the dining room and into the hallway.

Then his smile faded as he thought about his secret plans with Penny.

"But I might have to go some where in the next couple of days – it's just business, nothing for you to worry about. So if I do that, don't think I've forgotten you, it's just a business thing and I'll be back again before you know it!"

Emma looked at him suspiciously.

"Is this something I should know about?"

"No," Taylor replied quickly, and then he grabbed his car keys.

"Do you want to leave your car here? I'd love to drive you to work with me."

"I need to take my own car and go home and get changed," Emma reminded him,"I slept in these clothes last night!"

"Okay – you go home and get changed and I'll see you at the office,"Taylor said, "but I won't be there until later. I have to go to the research and design department to pick up some paperwork about some stuff for Gadget; I'm taking it over to the cybernetics center. I'll be back before lunchtime."

And she smiled as their eyes met and he kissed her again.

"See you soon," Taylor said warmly, and then he opened the door and Emma left the house and went over to her own car, while Taylor got into his and started the engine.

* * *

Far off from the gates, Claw watched through the open window of Marcia's car as Taylor drove away from the mansion. He headed up onto the main road that led to the highway, but Emma's car turned in the opposite direction, taking a route down a tree-shaded lane that would eventually lead towards North Riverton.

"So he's sleeping with _staff?_" Claw mused as Marcia turned the car around and began to follow Emma at a distance, "I suppose I could say a man like Taylor ought to do better for himself, but then again he _is_ an idiot, so only staff would see him as desirable...I wonder if he _pays_ her to sleep with him, too..."

And he chuckled.

Marcia kept a grip on the wheel as she drove along with her palms sweating.

She glanced back several times, checking in the mirror to make sure they were not being followed.

"Why did we have to take my car?" she complained as she continued to follow Emma.

"Because I_ said_ we'd use your car," Claw replied, "I'm not stupid enough to use _mine!_ Now keep your eyes on the road – and _don't_ lose sight of her!"

Marcia fixed her eyes on Emma's car and continued to follow her at a careful distance, saying no more as she silently weighed up all that Claw was asking of her:

_They were using her car._

_They would be taking his kidnap victim back to her house, too._

It was all about Claw using her and she knew it, but it was something she couldn't object to because she didn't doubt he would kill her if she dared to speak to out.

But as a sudden thought came to mind, a horrible one that made her go cold, she felt compelled to ask him one question.

"Claw," she said as she kept the car a careful distance from Emma's, "what are we going to do with her once he hands the company over?"

And she briefly glanced at him.

Claw turned his head and smiled.

"What do you think we're going to do with her?" he said darkly, "As soon as she's seen our faces, she's seen too much to live."

Marcia looked back at the road, unable look at him as she thought about what he was suggesting.

"Of course," she said quietly, feeling numb with shock even though she'd had a terrible feeling deep down inside ever since he had mentioned the abduction:

_He wouldn't keep her alive any longer than he had to; of course he was going to kill her..._

* * *

Gadget woke up warm in bed with the woman he loved beside him.

Bess had slowly opened her eyes as he gently toyed with her hair and as she saw looked up and saw him she smiled.

"Good morning Dr Nightingale," he said warmly, "I hope you slept well. And I have to say you have an amazing technique," he told her as he playfully added, "my arm feels so much better, must be all that _attention_ you gave me last night..."

And he pulled her into his arms and gave her a kiss.

"I never knew you had such a nice touch, doctor," he murmured, "I could get used to this. I hope you can too."

"Definitely," she whispered, and Gadget kissed her again as he ran his hands gently over her body.

He smiled as his arms extended and wrapped all the way around her twice, binding her close to him as he gave her more kisses.

She laughed.

"I bet you can do some tricks with that amazing body of yours!"

Gadget's eyes sparkled. Bess had no idea how much those words meant to him:

_She thought his outdated, first-attempt-at-a-cyborg-structure-body, was amazing?_

"That amazing body of mine is all yours, honey," he said softly, "help yourself to it anytime you want it, I'm all yours now..."

And the lovers kissed again, then a ringing sounded from Gadget's cell phone and he unwound his arms from her waist and looked apologetically at Bess.

"I'm sorry, I have to answer that. I'm not on duty yet so, its probably Penny checking up on me."

And he turned on his back and reached across the room with an extended arm and grabbed the phone, winding it back as his hand snapped easily back into place at his wrist once more.

"Gadget speaking," he said.

Bess lay beside him as she watched him speaking on the phone.

"Penny," he said warmly, "thanks for calling. And before you ask, I'm just fine. Don't worry about me. How was your night?"

And he listened, and then laughed softly.

"Well I'm glad you had a good time. It's definitely a good idea to take it easy for the morning..." he paused and listened again, then added, "Penny I'm fine, I promise you. And you should go back to sleep for a while."

She spoke again and as he listened, Gadget smiled.

"Okay, I'll see you in the afternoon. _We're_ _having a late start to the morning too,_" he mentioned, unable to hide the joy in his voice, _"me and Bess are still in bed."_

As she heard him say that, Bess stared at him.

Then she heard Penny's voice through the telephone as she exclaimed, "I'm _so_ glad you guys got together!"

And Gadget laughed again.

"We certainly are together," he said, looking to Bess with love in his eyes,"I have to go now, Penny. Bess is making me breakfast. Speak later...love you too, honey... bye."

He ended the call and placed the phone next to bed, then turned on to his back and looked at Bess.

"She sounded thrilled for us!" she exclaimed.

"She is," he replied, "she wanted us to fall in love; she said she thought we belonged together."

"Penny's right," Bess agreed, and she leaned closer, kissed him once and then slid the sheet downwards, exposing his partly metal body and the sight of it filled her with an aching need for him once more.

"Would you like it if I..."

She paused, unsure of how to ask as her fingertips brushed the sensors much lower on his body.

Gadget caught his breath and then he gave a sigh. His eyes were still locked with hers as they filled with desire.

"That feels great, keep doing it..."

"Actually I wanted to do more than touch them. Do your sensors like to be kissed? Can I kiss you down there?"

Gadget's hand extended from his wrist and his hand slid to the back of her head, gently pushing her downwards.

"Oh yes please, I _love_ that!" he said urgently, then as he felt her breath warm against his sensors and her lips brushed against them, he closed his eyes and kept one hand in her hair whilst the other clutched at the pillow and he lay back and enjoyed the moment.

* * *

Taylor Braydon had a big smile on his face as he parked his car outside the cybernetics lab.

He walked into the building with a computer print out in his hand, showed ID to cops at the door and then went over to the main desk to ask for Dr Bradford, only to learn she was on leave. Then he asked for Bess Nightingale, only to be told she was not in yet.

"Fine," Taylor replied, "I'll just take a seat and wait for her," and he waved the paper in his hand, "this is for her, I need to explain it to her- it's about some new parts for Inspector Gadget," he added, then he walked over to a wide seating area and sat down, turning to the window to watch traffic go by as he waited for Bess Nightingale to walk in.

_Watching the traffic was boring. _

Taylor played a game he had played to pass the time ever since he was a kid, trying to guess the color of the next car that came around the corner, but soon got bored with it.

Then he silently attempted to play _I-Spy_, but playing it alone was no fun at all, because he already knew the answers before he made the guesses, so he gave a sigh and checked his watch and looked at the door again, hoping Dr Nightingale would be along soon, so that he could give her the paperwork and then be on his way, he wanted to get back to the office and see Emma.

_Then a woman walked in._

Taylor didn't know her, but he watched as the slender woman in a pale blue dress approached the main desk, running her fingers nervously through short blonde hair as she began to speak.

As he listened, he became interested in the conversation.

"I filled out the form three months ago," the woman was saying,"and I've heard nothing from you. We need your help!"

The woman behind the desk searched through computer records, and then paperwork, and by now Taylor was also at the desk, leaning on it a short distance from where the woman stood as he watched the scene unfold.

"I'm sorry," the receptionist said as she handed a form back to the woman,"We can't treat you here. There's a certain amount of criteria that has to be fulfilled and you're below the borderline. If you wanted to have treatment, you would have to pay."

The woman studied what had been written at the bottom of the form and she blinked back tears.

"But we don't have enough money. We can't afford this."

"I'm sorry, but we can't help you. There are strict guidelines and we can't accept you because you can't pay the minimum requirement."

"What about some of the private centers outside Riverton?"

The woman behind the desk shook her head.

"We are funded by the government. We are _very_ limited to the kind of cases we can offer free treatment to and if you think our rules are tough, private centers will want twice the money we ask for. I'm sorry, its just the way things are."

And tears sprang to the woman's eyes and she turned her back and began to head for the door.

Taylor frowned, wondering what was going on that was so bad the woman was leaving in tears.

He rushed out after her, finding her standing in the parking lot crying.

"It's okay," he said, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and handing it to her.

She blinked back tears and looked at the crumpled square of cotton embroidered with the initials _T M B._ The tall, blond man in the brown suit who was smiling at her added:

"Its okay, dry your eyes. It's clean; I haven't sneezed in it or anything...I _promise_ there's no snot!"

She wiped away her tears, smudging the handkerchief with watery smears from eye make up that had started to run, and then she handed it back to him.

"Thanks," she replied, and turned to walk away.

"_Wait!"_

She turned back.

"What do you want?"

"I want to know what that was about just now, why did they turn you away?"

The woman gave a sigh.

"My husband was in an accident a few years ago. He had to have most of his lower body rebuilt and he's fifty percent cyborg now. But he needs some components replacing and we can't afford it. So he's in a cyborg body that will outlast him and can't even walk. On top of that we want to have a baby and we can't do it without fertility treatment. We can't afford to pay for the things we need because our income is too low and the cybernetics centre was the only place that could have helped us - but they said we don't qualify because we can't pay the percentage they need us to pay towards the treatment."

"That's not fair," Taylor said, "you should be able to get these things for free."

And then Taylor fell silent, his mind turning over possibilities.

He looked around, away from the cybernetics center and across the street, past the office blocks and the shopping mall to where a large, empty building stood...Riverton General had been closed down three years ago, replaced by the new hospital on the other side of town. That old building was standing empty. It wasn't in bad shape, it needed some refurbishment but..._it was for sale..._

As he turned back to her his eyes were sparking and there was a big smile on his face.

_"I've got an idea!"_ he said excitedly.

The woman looked at him blankly.

"I don't understand..."

He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.

"You can get the help you need," he told her, "and so can everyone else who the cybernetics center can't help."

She shook her head, feeling utterly confused by this optimistic but slightly crazy young man.

"But we can't afford treatment. It would take us five years to save that kind of money."

Taylor shook his head.

"No, _not_ five years. If you can wait for six months, I can help you. _I'm opening a private hospital here in Riverton_."

"But I can't afford it!" she said again.

Taylor was still smiling.

_"Yes you can,"_ he promised her, _"because I'm going to take everyone this centre turns away and treat them for free."_

The woman stared at him.

"Can you really do that?"

"There's no law against it," Taylor said "but I'll be sure to run everything past my lawyers before I buy the old Riverton General. Give me your phone number; I'll call you when the rebuilding work is finished."

She reached into her purse and handed him a card.

He read it and smiled.

"Mrs Katie Harper... and you're a florist? That's great, because I need your number anyway, I have a girlfriend and I love her! I'm going to be buying her a lot of flowers."

Finally the woman smiled.

"Well I hope I'll hear from you soon, and good luck with your plan."

Taylor smiled back at her.

"I don't need luck," he told her, "I'm Taylor Braydon, I'm a billionaire. I can buy anything I like – _and_ do what I want with it. I won't let you down; you'll get that call from me."

And she smiled again, thanked him and walked away, wondering if he was a well meaning, slightly crazy guy – or if he was actually genuine; that was something she didn't want to think too much about, because she had ever heard of a wealthy man who wanted to give _anything_ away for free before...

As she walked away, Taylor Braydon turned back towards the view of the empty hospital and smiled.

"I _love_ this idea!" he said excitedly, and then he went back into the cybernetics center to wait for Dr Nightingale to arrive.

* * *

Emma had arrived home and showered and dressed and got ready for work, hurrying because she didn't want to show up too late to start the working day, because a man like Taylor always had a sea of paperwork to deal with and he always handed it over to her. She didn't want him to make another kind gesture and try to do her job for her, because he simply wasn't capable of handling putting together serious business letters whilst answering the phone at the same time.

She was standing in the hallway in front of the mirror, brushing her hair as she thought about Taylor.

Emma smiled and shook her head:

Taylor, writing a letter and answering a phone call? _No, he couldn't do two things at once..._

She put down her hair brush, put on her glasses and reached for her car keys.

_Then she heard a creaking sound._

She caught her breath, the hair on the back of her neck prickling as she wondered why the kitchen door had shifted on its own...the hinges were stiff, she had been meaning to oil them for a while but not got around to doing it...

She slowly turned her head, a sense of dread rising inside her as she recalled just how stiff those hinges were – there was a small open window, but even a very strong breeze didn't usually shift that door...

It wouldn't have creaked unless something heavy shifted against it.

_Or someone._

That thought sent a chill through her and she tried to shake it off, fixing her gaze on the open door and looking into the kitchen:

She could see the washing machine, the kitchen worktops, and the sink was gleaming as sunlight came in through the window and its rays bounced off it.

Emma took in a deep breath:

There was nothing behind the door but a refrigerator... and a gap beside it, an empty space..._big enough for a person to hide in_.

She took in another breath and tried to shake off her fears:

_Of course there was no one there, there was no one hiding in her house..._

She took a step into the kitchen then another, turning sharply as she grabbed the door and pulled it aside.

There was nothing beside the fridge but a dark, empty space.

She breathed out slowly, shaking her head.

"There's no one here!" she said aloud, and left the kitchen, pausing to check her reflection one more time before she grabbed her car keys.

As she opened the front door she looked back, and then smiled as she wondered why she had done that:

_Who did she expect to see standing there, the __boogeyman__?_

Emma resisted the urge to look back again and left the house, closing the door behind her.

She got into her car and slid the key into the ignition.

Then Emma stopped, staring at the other car that was parked facing her own... that car had not been there when she had arrived home.

And the pale, blonde woman inside it was staring at her.

Emma stared back at her.

Then the woman's gaze shifted, past Emma...

And Emma gave a gasp of shock as she realized the woman was looking not beside her, but _behind_ her.

_There was someone in the back of the car!_

She looked up into the mirror, caught sight of cold eyes as a man sharply rose from where he had been hiding on the back seat.

He reached around, clamping a heavy silver pincer about her throat to stifle her cry for help, and then with a human hand, placed a stinking rag over her nose and mouth.

As she lost consciousness, Claw let go of her, leaving her to slump unconscious against the seat.

Then he got out of the car and walked around to the drivers side, releasing Emma's seatbelt and sliding her over to the passenger seat.

He paused, looking up at Marcia, who was watching as he abducted Taylor's girlfriend.

"Stay close behind me," he instructed, "we're taking her back to your place."

And then Claw got into the car and shut the door, activated the automatic door locks and started the engine.

He turned out of the drive and headed for the open road and Marcia followed, as he drove away Emma sat motionless, resting against the passenger seat as if asleep. Claw drove quickly, keen to get away from the scene of the crime.

Marcia followed with a heavy heart as she thought about all Claw had led her into:

_The building of an illegal weapon._

_Then attempted murder._

_And now kidnap..._

He had already told her he had no intention of returning Emma to Taylor, at least, not alive...

As she followed his car a crazy thought entered her mind and she instantly dismissed it for fear of losing her own life:

_She couldn't rescue that girl and set her free - Claw would kill her if she tried to do that..._

* * *

Inspector Gadget got back into bed missing the warmth of Bess beside him, but he had a smile on his face as he ran his hand down the pillow where she had rested her head and recalled every wonderful moment of their time together.

She had kissed him goodbye so tenderly and promised she would be back that evening after work – as long as he promised to get more rest.

He lay back and thought about a future that didn't seem so dark and lonely now – it was amazing how love made such a difference; now he had Bess at his side the future didn't seem such a daunting prospect, although he was not looking forward to going back to work and he was still thinking about that early retirement...

_Thoughts of the prospect of another battle with Claw began to take over. _

Gadget considered how quickly time had passed by and how Claw had seemed to grow even more diabolical with every attempt he made to take over, ...now he had a weapon in his hands that had the power to shatter the safety of cybernetic technology and the lives of those who depended on it...

It seemed to Gadget, times had changed too much – he was still the prototype, the first cyborg, his design far from perfect, his body often needing repairs and replacement parts...yet Claw was an expert at escaping, making new plans, coming back at him with smarter and more powerful weapons each time...

It was only a matter of time before Claw came up with something that destroyed him, or both of them.

_Yes, the time was coming to quit, and do it while he could still have a life to look forward to. _

_He wanted that more than ever now he knew he had a future to look forward to with Bess._

Gadget pushed aside all thoughts of his enemy.

As he began to relax, his lovemaking with Bess, in a body that was not entirely healed, began to take its toll and he became aware of flickering aches and pains that travelled into deep tissue where wires were still moulding with flesh.

He closed his eyes and remembered her touch, her kisses and the warmth they had shared beneath the sheets in this bed where he now lay waiting for sleep, and as it came to him easily Gadget drifted off with a smile on his face, knowing the empty space beside him would not be empty for long, because Bess was coming back and his days of sleeping alone were over now.

* * *

When Bess arrived at the lab, as soon as she walked in, Taylor Braydon dashed over to her.

"I've got some info on the implants for Gadget," he said, "I wanted to explain how it all works..."

Bess headed for the elevator.

"That's great, Taylor. Come up to my office and you can tell me about it – then I really have to catch up with work, I'm late today."

As the doors slid open, she stepped into the elevator and Taylor joined her.

"Basically, I want to tell you how it works, so you can explain it in simple terms to Gadget -"

Bess held up her hand to silence him.

"Lets just wait until we're in the office," she said, "then we can sit down and talk. "

"Okay," Taylor replied, and the doors opened and Bess stepped out of the elevator and healed for her office and Taylor walked beside her.

"I'm in love!" he said excitedly.

Bess had reached her office door. She unlocked it and glanced at Taylor with a smile on her face.

"That makes two of us! There must be something in the air!"

And she went into the office.

Taylor paused in the open doorway, looking at her in confusion.

"You don't understand...I didn't mean with _you_!"

Bess took a seat at her desk and laughed.

"I wasn't talking about you, Taylor! I'm seeing someone and he's very special to me."

And as she thought of the man she loved she felt a glow spread through her heart.

"I'm seeing Gadget."

Taylor's eyes lit up.

"So I heard!"

Bess smiled, not surprised that good news had travelled so fast.

"Yes it is good news. Now what did you want to explain to me?"

"Well, I wanted to explain how the shield system works," he said, "so that you can explain to Gadget."

Bess looked at him intently.

"Thank you, I'd appreciate your explanation if you put it in simplistic terms...I have a busy morning but I've time to listen."

"It works like this," Taylor began, "Bess... _are_ you listening?"

Bess had started to run the program that explained the installation of the shield system and showed areas of the body the shield protected.

She nodded as she watched the screen.

"I'm listening - I just want to watch the shield working in the diagram so I can put it together in my head..."

"It works like a circuit breaker, "Taylor said, "The EMP overloads circuits and fries them in order to knock out electronics. So for the systems that can't be shielded with traditional methods - like his gadgets – it creates a secondary circuit to them. This system is designed to help divert the excess power away from the main pathways so they don't overload. And if they still end up being too much, they will break off first - while leaving the main system hopefully intact, because the main system will be placed around his vital organs. This is _not_ perfect - but it offers at least a partial shielding system that will protect the main circuits and wiring. Does that make sense to you, Bess? I think I explained it okay."

Bess looked up from the screen and stared at Taylor.

"Yes, you certainly did I explain - I had no idea you knew all that technical stuff!"

Taylor smiled proudly.

"Actually I don't know anything, that's why I got one of my clever scientist guys to print the information out on this piece of paper," he explained, waving the paper in his hand, "so I could come over and explain to _you_ how it works."

As he handed the paper to Bess she thanked him.

"I'll be sure to explain all this to Gadget when he comes back to have the shield system fitted," she told him.

Taylor got up from his seat and turned to leave, but then he turned back as he remembered something else.

"There's one more thing," he said, as worry clouded his eyes, "Gadget has to be fully healed before this system is installed. Otherwise if his cyborg – human connections are not healed, he'll sustain terrible damage to his system if Claw hits him with the device again. I'm not saying his vital organs wouldn't be safe – they'll be totally protected, but the non life supporting wiring would be cracked, partly fried, might even burn into organic pathways that he needs for some of these connectors to work. I _do_ remember being told that, because it scared me. _Don't let him go back out there too soon, Bess_."

And Bess thought of Gadget and felt a flicker of fear, mixed with the urge to hold him tightly in her arms and protect him forever. She was starting to realize it would be tough to be the girlfriend of Riverton's greatest crime fighter because as long as he was Inspector, he would always be facing danger, and Claw was still out there, too...

"Don't worry Taylor," she said, "he won't be going anywhere until he's fully recovered, I'll personally make sure of that."

And Taylor left the room and Bess thought again about her lover, then she picked up the phone to call him, not because she needed to check he was okay, but simply because she needed to hear the sound of his voice to reassure herself he was at home, where he was safe - at least for now...

* * *

Emma dragged her eyes open and tried to struggle, but her hands were tied behind her back and her ankles were also bound.

She took in a breath and struggled for air as she breathed hard through the gag tied around her mouth.

Emma rolled over and looked in terror at the man who stood over her.

Her abductor had a gleaming metal pincer instead of a hand and as he smiled his eyes were cold, just as they had been when he grabbed her in the car.

"Don't bother to struggle," he said softly, leaning over her and pushing a lock of hair off her face.

As the cold metal pincer brushed against her skin she shivered, fighting against the urge to scream because air was precious and it was already hard to take enough in.

"It's not you I want," he said quietly as he looked into her frightened eyes, "It's your boyfriend. Once Taylor signs his company over to me, he can have you back. _He can have you back in a body bag!_"

As Emma gave a choked off cry of fear behind her gag, Claw smiled on seeing her terror, then he stepped away from the bed, turned out the light and left Emma sobbing alone in the dark.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

As the front door closed, Gadget was lightly jolted out of sleep.

Then he heard footsteps on the stairs and smiled; Penny was home.

The bedroom door opened and she stood there he caught a flicker of anxiety in her eyes as she looked at him.

"Are you okay, Uncle Gadget?"

"I'm fine, Penny! What's the matter?"

Penny came in and sat on the edge of his bed.

_"I still worry."_

She clasped his hand just as she had done when he had been in the hospital and he wanted to remind her he wasn't sick now, he was still healing, he was getting better every day...

"I'm okay! I was just resting while my connections heal. Please don't worry about me!"

The look in her eyes softened.

"I can't help worrying about you."

And she clasped his hand a little tighter, then as tears threatened to come she held them back, determined she would be brave for him no matter how her emotions tried to get the better of her.

"You seem so much stronger," she said hopefully, "and I'm really happy you and Bess got together. But you have to rest, Uncle Gadget. Please don't get any crazy ideas about going back to work. You have to rest for a _long_ time."

Gadget looked into the eyes of his niece and felt guilty, as he considered his plan to go after Claw as soon as he was fully healed and the new shield system was fitted.

Then as Penny continued to hold his hand he thought some more about the shield system:

_He was yet to break the news that he faced another procedure to fit the shield..._

The thought of breaking that news made him ache in the place where his human heart used to be. He wasn't sure if the new titanium heart was aching in sympathy for his loss and for how he felt about what he had to say, but there was a definite emotional ache present, he was sure of it.

Penny looked slightly tearful as she affectionately ran her hand over his hair and then smiled.

"You always took care of me," she reminded him,"now it's my turn to take the very best care of you."

And on hearing those words, Gadget wanted to cry too, but held it back for Penny's sake because he hated to see her cry and knew if he wept, so would she. Instead he managed a smile.

"You don't have to worry about me," he said, "Bess can take care of me if I need help – not that I do need help now, I'm getting better."

And he gave her hand a squeeze, deciding good news should _definitely_ come before the bad...

"I'm thinking about an early retirement."

Penny's eyes widened, and suddenly brightened up.

"_Really?"_

Gadget shrugged.

"In the old days, the only thing I ever wanted to be was a crime fighter. I've done that now. And that EMP device wrecked my body. If stay in the force, some day, I'll come up against another weapon and I won't survive a second time. I want to see you get married and have kids. I want to spend my life with the people love. I don't want to lose my life spending too long with Riverton PD and going out one day and getting killed. Can you understand my reasons for wanting to quit?"

Penny felt as relieved as she looked.

"Of course I can! And I was always proud of you being a crime fighter, but I'd be much happier if you gave it up, then I wouldn't have to worry about you any more."

And then her smile faded as she caught a look of apprehension in her Uncle's eyes.

"Oh no, what _else_ is there?"

"In a few days, I have to go back to the cybernetics center and have a shield system fitted. It's just a series of very small implants around my body to protect my major organs...just in case I ever suffered this kind of attack again. I know I probably won't, but its better to be safe than sorry. And you don't have to worry about me - the recovery time is twenty-four hours. So in cybernetic terms, its minor surgery."

Penny blinked several times as she kept a tight grip on his hand.

"Oh no!" she said, as her voice choked up, "Not more surgery...you've been through enough!"

"And I'll be strong enough to get through this, and afterwards I'll know I'm protected."

Gadget had tried to sound confident but he was dreading the surgery far more than he cared to show in front of Penny.

"There's no need to worry about me," he promised her, "I've got Bess now, we're really happy together. I'm looking forward to the future!"

As Penny saw the sparkle in his eyes, she smiled too as she let go of his hand.

"And your future's going to be just great," she promised him, as she thought of how he had taken her into his home and raised her like a daughter; Gadget's love had made up for the loss of her Mother and Father, had healed her grief and given her the life she had today that she was so thankful for. And as she looked at him, resting as he recovered from the many procedures head been through to save his life, she made silent vow that her uncle _would_ have a great future – _one without the threat of Claw lurking, because soon she was going track that bastard down and finish him off once and for all.._

"I'll make sure the future's great," Penny added, "you must rest and get better and make plans for you and Bess. Don't worry about anything else, its my turn to look after you now."

And Gadget gave a sigh.

"I can look after _myself,_ Penny!"

She got up and headed for the door, turning back with a smile on her face.

"I'm a big girl, Uncle Gadget. I don't need to ask why you're lying there like you've been doing too much when you should have been resting - remember, you've got connections that need to heal, Bess doesn't have _that_ problem!"

And Gadget laughed as his face flushed a little.

"I'm taking a shower and getting changed," Penny told him, "then I'm making you a chocolate milkshake, and then I'm going to the gym. And I'll feed and walk Brain before I go. _Promise_ me you'll stay in bed."

Gadget smiled back at his niece, trying to push away the images the flitted through his mind of how he would be spending his time with Bess later on – _there wouldn't be much resting involved..._

"Yes, Penny, I'll stay in bed," he told her, and Penny smiled sweetly.

"That's good, that's what I like to hear. You have to get used to being looked after."

And then she left the room.

"_Get used to being looked after?"_ Gadget repeated quietly, _"Oh no, honey...that's not me at all..."_

And he sat up, but the pain that flickered through into deep tissue where wires moulded into nerves and muscle made him catch his breath and he lay back again, taking in a deep breath.

As he looked up at the ceiling he recalled being naked with Bess and making love like nothing else mattered and a smile came to his face:

Yes, he was hurting because he was far from healed and should have been taking it easy...

_"It was worth it!"_ he said, feeling good despite the aches and pains as he looked forward to the evening, when his lover would be coming over to the house again.

* * *

After Penny had showered and changed her clothes, she went downstairs to the kitchen and made a chocolate milkshake for her Uncle.

As she stood alone in the kitchen she recalled her childhood, the years she had spent in this house with Gadget. He had always liked to surprise her when she came home from school, he was always making her cakes - he loved to bake for her. She thought about a time he had used his gadgets to stir some cake mix and it had ended up all over the ceiling and all over her Uncle.

And as Penny poured the milkshake she blinked away tears.

_It was a good thing he was leaving the force. _

_She had seen him in many dangerous situations over the years, but no one had placed him in more peril than Claw... _

She took the milkshake up the stairs to her Uncle's room.

As she climbed the stairs she thought of Claw, of the threat he posed...

Penny decided:

One more day and she would make that call to Taylor Braydon and they'd get over to Marcia's house to see what they could find out.

_She had every intention of taking Claw down by herself..._

Then she shoved thoughts of Claw aside as she went back into her Uncle's room.

Gadget was sleeping again, so she left the milkshake next to his bed, gently kissed his cheek and left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

Then Penny went back downstairs to take Brain for walk.

After his walk she planned to go to the gym, where she could work out and work off the anger that was building up inside her at the thought of what Claw had done to her Uncle. That thought stayed with her as she walked out of the door with Brain and headed off towards the woods for his afternoon exercise:

_Her brave Uncle Gadget who had been through so much pain, would not suffer like this a second time._

_Even though she didn't doubt he had the courage to face Claw again, she knew he could not go through any more suffering._

_Her sweet, kind Uncle Gadget, who now had a titanium heart to keep him alive, had taken enough damage._

Penny didn't really think of her own life as being one that had broken or scarred, despite her parent's murder, despite that loss at such a young age - because one man had put her life back together, and now it was her turn to fight for him, to keep him safe after Claw had shattered him, and Penny was up for the challenge.

She had been loved and raised by Inspector Gadget, the cyborg crime fighter, the brave man who had survived the terrible effects of the weapon that had destroyed his human heart.

When Penny thought about how willing she was to fight for him, she calmly concluded she didn't need to be a cyborg to understand how he felt, to understand all he had suffered:

_She had suffered too, and now it felt as if her heart may as well have been made of steel, because she was old enough and tough enough to take on Claw, and she was going to do just that – and do it for the love of her Uncle Gadget..._

* * *

Taylor Braydon walked into the office with a big smile on his face.

"Hi Emma!" he said brightly, and then his smile faded as he saw her empty chair and noticed her desk looked untouched.

"Strange..." he remarked, looking around the room:

Even her purse wasn't in its usual place, hanging up where she left her jacket sometimes...

"Where are you?" he wondered, and then a thought hit him:

_Was she playing hide and seek?_

He crept up to the door of his own office and opened it quickly.

"I know you're under the desk!" he said brightly, but then he listened and heard nothing, not even a giggle. And as he checked below the desk, he saw that she wasn't there.

He straightened up and cast another look around the room:

_There was nowhere else to hide in here..._

He thought some more.

"Maybe she left a note!" he exclaimed, and hurried out into her office, but on searching her desk, found nothing.

_And then the phone rang_.

Taylor snatched it up, his eyes lighting up as he thought of Emma, calling to explain her absence.

"Mr Braydon?"

He frowned on hearing a stranger's voice.

"Um...yes...that's me. But I don't usually take my calls, my secretary takes them first and _then_ I take them - if I really need to speak to someone...could you call back later, when she's here, so she can deal with you?"

The caller laughed and the sound of that dark laughter shot ice through Taylor's blood.

"Is this a weird phone call?" he said anxiously.

"No, Taylor," the caller replied, "I'm calling to explain that Emma won't be in today. You could say she's rather tied up. Actually, _I_ tied her up. I'm Sanford Scolex, also known as Claw - and I'm demanding you hand over Braydon Industries."

Taylor gripped the phone tighter.

"I'm _not_ handing my business over to anyone!" he said defensively.

Then Claw gave a sigh.

"Sorry, I forgot," and his voice hardened as he added, "you're _stupid!_"

"What did you say to me?" Taylor demanded.

"_I said you are stupid. You're an idiot, a retard, an imbecile with more money than sense - and you'd better listen, because if you don't I'll be sending your girlfriend home to you in a body bag!"_

Taylor drew in a frightened breath as he thought of Emma...now he got it..._Claw had Emma?_

"Don't hurt her!" he pleaded.

"Let me give you proof she's here," Claw said, and there was a brief moment of silence and then he heard Emma's voice:

"_Taylor,"_ she said tearfully, _"please...help me, I'm so scared-"_

And then her voice was cut off and there was the brief sound of a struggle, then Claw spoke up again.

"She's frightened, Taylor. She's crying. She _knows_ I'm going to kill her if you let her down."

Tears filled Taylor's eyes as he thought of Emma, alone and frightened at the mercy of Claw.

"Alright!" he said in a small, scared voice, "I'll do what ever you say. Just don't hurt her! And I can't transfer the company to you in five minutes, this will take time, there's paperwork, there's red tape -"

"And there will be a big, red _stain_ spreading from the hole I make in your girlfriend's head when I blow her brains out if you don't hand it over!" Claw said sharply, "You've got seventy-two hours! And if you go to the police I will know, because I know _everything,_ because I'm Claw and I am so _very_ much smarter than you! Arrange the transfer of ownership and I will be in touch and tell you what happens next. You don't breathe a word of this to anyone or you may as well start arranging her funeral now, do you understand me?"

He sniffed and blinked as tears rolled down his face.

"_Yes..."_ he said tearfully, and Claw ended the call.

Taylor put the phone down, then looked around the empty room, thought of Emma and sobbed again.

He turned his tearful gaze towards the window and looked out over Riverton:

She was out there, she was afraid and as he thought about how precious she was, how much he loved her, he knew the loss of his company was nothing compared to losing her.

She was out there somewhere, afraid, crying...he had to do what ever it took to get her back...

"_Please don't kill her,"_ he said as his voice began to choke with tears, _"I want her back, I love her!"_

He was sure his heart was pounding with fear. Even though his titanium heart was incapable of beating, he often thought he could feel the beat of his human heart in there somewhere, but now he was shaking and it seemed as if his human heart still existed, racing ghostly in his chest as the titanium heart worked robotically.

"I need...something...help...that's it, I need help..."

Taylor grabbed his cell phone and then recalled Claw's warning.

"I can't tell the cops..."

And then he knew who he needed to call.

"_Penny!"_ he exclaimed, and hit her number on speed dial.

The phone rang and rang, and then Penny finally answered.

"Taylor?" she said, "What do you want? I've just left the gym, I was on my way home -"

He drew in a sharp breath and as he spoke, more tears sprang to his eyes.

"_You've got to help!"_ he sobbed_, "Help me, Penny! Claw's got Emma!"_

* * *

Bess knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

As Gadget opened the door, she gave him a hug and then went inside.

"I know I said I'd be over tonight and I will - but I also have to make a house call and check on you every day, it's just how things are," she told him.

Gadget led her into the front room and then sat down on the couch.

"But you'll see me tonight!"

"And I have to record your vitals and check you over, and put that data into the computer at the cybernetics center by three pm," she told him, "I have to do that every day to make sure I'm tracking your recovery. Brenda wouldn't expect any less."

As she sat down beside him and drew the digital device from her medical bag, Gadget smiled as he opened up the top half of his bathrobe.

"_Help yourself, Dr Nightingale..."_

She caught the flirtatious tone in his voice.

"Maybe later..."

The device felt cold pressed against his chest and as she tracked the signal she laughed softly.

"You won't believe this, but when you just flirted with me, your heart rate went up! I know that sounds strange because its robotic, but I _know_ what I saw..."

"_And I know what I feel,"_ he said softly, reaching up and running his hand over her hair.

As she removed the tracking device from his chest, Bess looked into his eyes.

"All you have to do is touch me and I start thinking about things I shouldn't while I'm on work hours..._like spending the rest of the afternoon with you, and if that happens, your bathrobe is coming off, my clothes are coming off and we'll be together on that rug in front of the fireplace at some point within the next five minutes..._but I have to go back to work, I have patients to see."

"Then I'll see you tonight," Gadget replied, and extended his hands from his wrists, they snaked out and wrapped around her and he pulled her close.

As they shared a kiss that deepened quickly, Gadget pulled back before desire took over.

"You'd better go back to work, Bess."

She got up and walked to the door, then looked back at him.

"I'll be over as early as I can," she promised him, "see you soon, Gadget."

He felt an ache deep inside as he thought about spending the afternoon waiting for Bess to return.

As he heard the front door close and then the sound of her car leaving the driveway, he wondered if he ought to get dressed and go and sit in the Gadget Mobile, because he was starting to feel much better and with that improvement, the need to start up his usual day was coming back.

But he knew if he got in the car he would talk to the Gadget Mobile and then decide to take a drive...if he went outside, he would be going out because being stuck in the house was driving him crazy and he wasn't ready to do anything but rest for now...

Then Brain ran in and leapt on the chair and as the dog curled up beside him, Gadget stroked his silky fur and glanced at the clock.

"I guess a few hours isn't so long to wait," he said as Brain looked up at him,"Bess will be back soon..."

* * *

Taylor Braydon was tearful and jumped up from his seat as the door to his office opened and Penny hurried in.

"So you're sure about all this?" she said as she went over to the window, where Taylor turned back from the view of Riverton and blinked to clear his vision.

"Of course I'm sure! He put her on the phone –"

"So we know she's still alive..."

Penny's mind was racing as hard as her heart was pumping and adrenaline coursed through her body.

_The more she thought of Claw, the more she wanted to get out there and nail the guy..._

"Tell me again; tell me exactly what he said to you."

Taylor struggled to hold back tears.

"He said I have to transfer the company over to him. He said if I don't do it he's going to kill her and I think he means it! But he gave us plenty of time - he said, I've got seventy-two hours, and that's a whole week, right?"

Penny felt so sorry for Taylor she was almost tempted to agree with him just to stop his tears, but she knew the truth, although harder to take, was only fair, so she gave into him:

"No Taylor," she said gently, "Seventy-two hours is three days. _We only have three days_."

His eyes widened.

"I can't hand my company over in three days!" he wailed.

Penny put her hand on his shoulder and looked into his frightened eyes.

"Taylor," she said firmly, "listen to me! You can't hand your company over to Claw! There's no way he'd keep his side of the bargain – Emma's a witness, he's holding her hostage – he won't let her live no matter what you do. Even if you handed the company over, he wouldn't hand her back to you unharmed. There's only one thing we can do to make sure Emma gets out of there."

"What is it?" Taylor asked her, and as he looked at her he seemed to be begging for a miracle.

Penny didn't have an easy answer, because her plan would not be easy – but it seemed like the best bet, to save Emma and to get to Claw and put a stop to his plans...

"We get her back ourselves," Penny told him, "I mean, you and me and the Gadget Mobile. We can't tell Quimby because Claw is always one step ahead of the cops -"

"And he said if I tell the cops he'll kill her!" Taylor added.

Fear burned in his eyes as he recalled something else Claw had said.

"Penny, he told me he knows _everything!_"

She shook her head.

"He's just trying to scare you. He doesn't know everything, but he _is_ smart. Don't let him scare you. We can't tell Quimby because his officers won't be able to find Claw. And then the Chief will ask my Uncle Gadget to get back on the case, and I don't want that to happen because Claw's already hurt him enough! This is down to us now. Can you go through with this?"

The fear was still there in Taylor's eyes, but now determination burned there also.

"I'll do it for Emma!" he said, and crossed the floor, slid back a painting from the wall and began to dial the combination for the safe behind it.

"What are you doing?" Penny asked him.

The shock was wearing off now and Taylor's hands had stopped shaking.

"Dangerous situations," he said as he opened the safe door, "require some serious protection. Don't worry, I'm trained, I know how to handle this thing."

And he took out a hand gun, checked it was loaded, and slipped it into his jacket.

Penny wondered if she ought to ask him if he was sure he could handle a firearm, but then she recalled the way he had restrained her at the party when the lights had gone out and held her back while she was in a panic – Taylor Braydon has certainly been trained in self defense...

He ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath.

"Okay, so what's the plan? I'm not too good at making plans but I can handle action, Penny. And I just want Emma back; I want her back safe and well!"

"We need to get over to Marcia's place," Penny told him,"because she's his partner in crime and he's hiding out somewhere - it makes sense that she would be letting him use her place. And if they are there, my guess is, Emma must be there too. I can't see Claw leaving a hostage somewhere else and hoping they don't escape. He likes to be in control, so where ever he is, so is Emma. _Marcia's house is the most obvious place to look_."

Taylor felt stronger now, knowing there was a plan, knowing he had a gun and most of all, knowing Penny was taking the lead in this plan.

"Let's go," he said, "I want to get her out of there right now!"

And he left the office and headed for the elevator.

Penny hurried after him.

"_Taylor, slow down!"_

The elevator doors opened and Taylor went inside and so did Penny.

As the doors closed Taylor hit the button for the ground floor.

"I can't slow down, he's got Emma!"

"And we can't just knock on the door and get her back! We have to sneak in, get her out and then-"

As Penny fell abruptly silent, Taylor looked in the mirrored glass and caught a look in her eyes that, just for a second, reminded her of the look he had seen after the device had gone off at the party.

"And then what?" he said quietly.

Penny's empty gaze was fixed on the mirror, looking back into her own eyes as she kept her thoughts of making Claw suffer stay hidden from Taylor.

"What?"

She turned her head, blinked and the dead, empty look in her eyes was gone as she focussed on him once more.

"I said, what do we do after we get Emma out of there? Do we call the cops? That seems to make sense, right? We call the cops..."

"No," Penny replied, "You take Emma home. _Leave Claw to me_."

The elevator reached ground level and the doors opened.

Taylor stared at her as she walked out ahead of him. "You're taking him on your own?"

He hurried after her, Penny said nothing as she left the building and he left too, hurrying down the steps and over to where her car was parked.

"_Penny?"_

She looked at him as she unlocked her car.

"What, Taylor?"

"You can't take on Claw all by yourself!"

"This is personal!" she said bitterly, "You saw what he did to my Uncle. I can't let that go. He _has_ to pay for what he's done! So, are you coming with me or not?"

Taylor nodded and said nothing more as they both got into the car.

Penny started the engine and the car pulled away from Braydon Industries.

"We have to switch cars first," Penny said as they reached the open road, "I have to go home, leave my car and take the Gadget Mobile – we need his back up in case things turn bad."

As they sped along the road worry reflected in Taylor's eyes.

"I don't like to think things will turn bad," he said quietly, "that scares me a lot."

Penny kept her eyes on the road as her mind ticked over, running through her plan ensuring it was perfect.

"Don't think about what might go wrong," she told him, "just think of Emma."

And Taylor pushed aside his fears as determination made him strong enough to banish doubts.

"I'll do that," he replied, "I'll think of Emma. I want her back so much, it's _all_ I want!"

* * *

Gadget had fallen asleep on the sofa.

That sleep was broken as he heard his niece gently saying his name.

Gadget opened his eyes and looked up to see Penny leaning over him.

"Hi," she said warmly, smiling at him with love in her eyes, "did you had a nice sleep, Uncle Gadget?"

"Yes thanks, Penny."

He made a move to get up but she gently placed her hands on his shoulders and eased him back down again.

"Don't get up," she told him kindly, "I want you to take it easy and get stronger."

Gadget went along with Penny's request, simply to stop her worrying about him.

"I'm taking the Gadget Mobile for a drive," Penny told him,"I hope that's okay – I thought he could use a drive around town, I know he misses you while you're stuck in here recovering."

"You can take the Gadget Mobile any where you like!" he assured her, "I know you'll drive carefully – and if you didn't, that car would take over and drive for you!"

Penny smiled fondly.

"Go back to sleep, "she said, "I'll be back later on...and if I'm not back by evening, I'm just running late."

Gadget blinked, fixing his gaze on Penny.

"Running late? I thought you wanted to go for a drive? What _else_ are you up to?"

"Seeing a friend," Penny lied, "so don't worry about me."

And she quickly kissed his cheek, promised to call him later and then hurried from the room.

Brain was sitting on the sofa beside Gadget and he glanced at the door and then looked back at him.

"What's the matter?" Gadget asked him, "Why are you looking so suspicious? Penny wouldn't lie to me!"

The dog cast him a doubtful glance, then settled down again as Gadget got comfortable on the sofa once more and closed his eyes.

He reached over and stroked the top of the dog's head.

"Don't worry, boy," he said to Brain,"I _know_ my niece... she wouldn't lie to me. If she says she's seeing a friend, that's _exactly_ where she's going..."

* * *

A short while later, after pausing to pick up Taylor who had been waiting at the corner of the street, they were on their way across Riverton in the Gadget Mobile, heading for the home of Marcia Glass.

"Can't we go any faster?" Taylor demanded as they stayed within the speed limit, "This thing has rockets, I read that once in the newspaper... can't we use the rockets?"

The screen lit up and the computerized face of the Gadget Mobile glared up at him.

"_Excuuuuuse me!"_ it exclaimed, "Thing? What's the _thing _you're talking about? I'm the Gadget Mobile, a sentient vehicle! I'm not a _thing_, I'll thank you to bear that in mind unless you want me to stall and then _you_ can get out and walk!"

"We can't use the rockets," Penny said,"there are cops all over town looking for Claw. If they saw the Gadget Mobile racing along with the rockets out, I think they'd work out something was going on. We can't allow Claw to have cops surrounding Marcia's place – he might panic and shoot Emma."

At the thought of Emma, Taylor fell silent for moment.

"We can't take any chances," the car added, "we're undercover; this is a _secret_ mission, because we don't want Gadget going back out there and getting hurt again!"

"I see your point," Taylor replied as he thought of the damage Claw's weapon had caused to his friend.

And then he blinked, staring down at the screen.

"You can talk!" he said in amazement, "You are a _real_ talking car!"

And he looked at Penny.

"_I want one!"_

Despite the fact that they were heading closer into danger by the minute, Penny smiled as she turned back to the road.

"You only just figured that out?"

Taylor's eyes were shining like a kid who had just stepped into a toy shop.

"I want a car _just_ like this one!" he declared, "But maybe in silver... or in _lovely_ mint green!"

"_Mint green?"_ the car repeated, "Gross! You can forget that idea, Taylor - I am one of a kind!"

"But I can always pay to have a car like you," Taylor pointed out, "not exactly like you, just a car that can talk and be my friend, it would be cool!"

And Penny smiled again, but as they turned the corner and headed down the long, quiet road that led to a large house where the entrance to the driveway was shaded by heavy tree boughs, her smile faded.

"This is it," she said, "this is Marcia's house."

And the Gadget Mobile came to a stop around the corner from the entrance.

Penny looked down at the face on the screen.

"Okay," she said to the car, "this is the plan – we're going to sneak in and get Emma out. If you hear shots fired, if we don't come back out, if _anything_ goes wrong, I want you to go and fetch help."

The face looked up at Penny.

"You want me to fetch Gadget?"

"No!" Penny exclaimed, "Don't involve him – he's hurt, Gadget Mobile! We have to keep him safe!"

"I think he'd rather be keeping _you_ safe," the car reminded her.

Penny thought of the sight of her Uncle after his body had been shattered by the EMP device and she shook her head.

"No," she said quietly,"things have changed. From now on, we take care of him - we keep him out of danger. Promise me you won't tell him."

"Okay, I'll go straight to Quimby instead," the car replied, "but remember there's nothing stopping him telling your Uncle!"

Penny looked over at the house then back at the screen.

"It won't go wrong," she said, "we won't take any more risks than we have to. Just get ready to drive away as soon as Taylor brings Emma out of there."

"What about you, Penny?"

"You can come back for me."

The car was still thinking.

"But what if he uses his EMP device again? If he uses that, I'm dead! I'm scrap metal, burned out –"

"He won't!" Penny promised the car, "Claw would only use it if he thought my Uncle Gadget was coming after him. Besides, every time he uses it, he's going to screw up his own pincer and have to replace it. I can't see him using it again unless he was fighting my Uncle."

"That makes sense," the car agreed, "take care - both of you! Remember how crazy that guy is!"

"As if I could forget," Penny said in a low voice as she and Taylor got out of the car, "I'll _never_ forget what Claw's done..."

The car remained parked beneath the shady bough of a tall tree as Penny and Taylor made their way around the side of the entrance, slipping into the cover of bushes and closely growing shrubbery as they edged closer to the house.

"Good luck," the car said quietly, "and please don't screw up... if something goes wrong, Gadget will _never_ forgive me!"

* * *

Penny edged closer to the house, and then stayed tight against the trunk of a tree as she motioned to Taylor to follow her.

He quickly darted forward, looked around nervously and then took in a shaky breath.

"How do we get in?"

"I suggest we go in through the garage - the door's open, we just have to hope the connecting door is unlocked. It's just a matter of waiting and being very quiet and very careful. Don't worry, we'll find Emma and get her out of there."

Taylor's eyes burned with anger as he fixed his gaze on the house.

"I just want her to be safe; I want to get her away from that bastard!"

"And we will, but we have to be careful."

She shifted along the shady side of the garden keeping close to the wall, and Taylor followed.

"I wish I had go go gadgets!" Penny complained, "My Uncle could have got in there much faster than we can. I don't even have his go go Gadget binoculars to check the coast is clear - I mean, it looks like there's no one up there but I can't really tell from here. It looks so quiet..."

Penny kept her sights fixed on the house as she decided on the best move forward.

"Okay Taylor," she said, "this is what's going to happen – I'll go first, I'll cut down the side of the garden and stay in the shade, then I'll go straight up to the garage and get in there and see if the door is unlocked. Wait here and watch – if I beckon to you, come over and join me. And if something goes wrong, go back to the car and get out of here and tell Quimby what's happened. Don't even _think_ about trying to get me and Emma out on your own – you'll _need _back up."

Taylor nodded slowly as he wondered which was a more frightening thought:

_Something going wrong, or having to face being yelled at by Chief Quimby all over again..._

"But it won't go wrong," she added as she caught a flicker of fear in Taylor's eyes, "trust me, its going to be okay."

And then Penny was gone, running up the shady side of the garden, staying close to the wall as she headed for the house.

Taylor watched from his hiding place as she reached the end of the shrubbery, carefully stepped out and looked around, and then made a run for the garage.

_Then a woman with swept up fair hair stepped out of the garage raised a gun and fired a shot._

Taylor gave a gasp as Penny was knocked backwards, the bullet had either hit or skimmed her side, because she was thrown back and spun around before hitting the gravel hard. Her white top was torn on the left side and a red stain was spreading through it and Penny was motionless as the woman stood over her.

Suddenly Taylor felt as if his head was spinning.

_"Penny?"_ he whispered in a shocked voice.

"Don't worry, I told Marcia to give her a flesh wound. I wanted to take her alive," said Claw.

Taylor breathed a sigh of relief.

"She's not dead? That's great to know, thanks Claw."

And then his eyes grew wider.

_"CLAW?"_ he exclaimed.

"This place is full of security cameras," Claw remarked, smacking Taylor over the head with his pincer and knocking him out cold.

As Taylor lay at his feet, he looked down at him.

"I saw you coming from the minute you sneaked into the garden," he remarked.

Taylor Braydon gave no response.

Claw shook his head.

"It's true what people say about you, Taylor," he added, "you really _are_ a first class idiot... _and now you're my prisoner - and so is Gadget's niece_..."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Penny opened her eyes and felt a burning pain in her left side.

She looked up at the high, white-painted ceiling and then her view of it was jarred as she was dragged along the floor again, coming to a sharp halt as pain stabbed at her side for a second time.

"The bullet grazed her. Nice shooting, just what I wanted," said Claw, as he stood over Penny and looked down at her.

Pain was cutting through her side, it felt wet and warm as the ache burned.

She looked up at the dark-haired man in the expensive suit and something at the back of her mind drew the conclusion that Sanford Scolex had not changed since back in the days when her Uncle had first become Gadget the Inspector. He still looked very much as she recalled him – and he still had a silver pincer, it was not the same one, this was heavy and sleek and engraved with his initials - but one look in his eyes told her this man still held darkness in his heart, and as she drew in a painful breath the wound in her side throbbed and her eyes filled with tears of rage.

"_You bastard!"_ she hissed, _"You won't get away with what you did to my Uncle!"_

Then her head span and the pain in her side throbbed again.

"I think I _will_ get away with it," Claw replied, "in fact, I'm _certain _I'll get away with it. Taylor Braydon's knocked out cold and tied up in the car, with his girlfriend to keep him company. And you're coming along for the ride too – they're in Marcia's car. You're coming with me."

And then as he looked up, he spoke again, but not to Penny:

"Are we ready to leave?"

And Marcia nodded.

She looked down at Penny nervously, then at the blood on her own hands.

"I need to clean myself up," she said quietly, glancing again at Penny before looking back at Claw.

"Well hurry up, then!" Claw said, "And _don't_ leave any evidence behind!"

"I won't leave any bloodstains," Marcia replied, and her voice was hushed, she seemed shaken up at the sight of blood as if it had brought home to her the fact that she had done harm.

"Why did you shoot me?" Penny said as she fought off another wave of pain.

Marcia turned and walked away.

"She shot you because asked her to incapacitate you," Claw explained, "I'm fully aware you're trained in self-defense and I have no intention of getting beaten up by a girl!"

Then he walked away from her, pausing to open a bathroom door.

Penny turned her head and had a floor-level view of Marcia, standing in the bathroom with the water running as she scrubbed at her hands.

"Take some bleach from the kitchen and clean that sink when you're done," he said to her sharply," and hurry up! I've got Taylor and his secretary tied up in your car!"

Marcia was shaking as she turned off the water and dried her hands on a towel.

"Why does it have to be me doing everything?" she said in a scared voice.

Her side was still aching and the view, sideways from where she lay on the floor, was not easy to follow as another wave of pain cut through her, but as Claw stood beside Marcia, Penny noticed he glared at her.

"You do as I say because you _obey_ me!" he said sharply, "You didn't mastermind this plan, _I_ did! I'm doing what I know best – your role is to follow and obey because you are my _minion,_ do you understand?"

"I'm your what?" she said in a shocked voice, "Whatever happened to equal partnership?"

"_What partnership?"_ Claw replied, "It's _always _been me leading you,so I suggest we keep it that way before you ruin everything. Now go and get the bleach, I didn't want a trace of blood left in this house!"

Then Claw snatched the towel from her and walked out of the bathroom.

Penny tried to move but pain shot through her; it was far too soon to think about trying to get up, fight back or even try to make a run for it. The wound was still throbbing and she looked down at her side:

Her clothes were stained with blood and the wound was still glistening. It looked as if the bullet had grazed her, and she knew as she breathed again, this time deeply, that it was just a surface wound. It still hurt, but the pain was beginning to fade to a bearable level now.

As she saw Claw approaching she gave a gasp and struggled, but was unable to shift away as he stepped closer.

Then he was leaning over her and she saw the towel in his hand and a sudden thought hit her:

_Was he going to strangle her with it? _

He saw fear in her eyes and swiftly pressed the towel against her wound.

"No, I'm not going to kill you," he said, avoiding her gaze, "I've often thought about it, especially in the days when you were a little pest who couldn't leave trouble alone...but I need you alive, I need _all _of you alive...you're just pawns in my game...after I've got Braydon Industries, I don't care what happens. Don't ask me questions about it either...I think you've stopped bleeding..."

Penny drew in a sharp breath and gritted her teeth, determined not to cry out as he withdrew pressure from the wound.; he had caused her Uncle enough pain and she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing he had hurt her too - even if she had to hurt for days, she was determined Claw would _not _know about it.

She took another deep breath and glared up at him.

"Why would you care if I've stopped bleeding?"

"I wouldn't want to ruin my car with your bloodstains," he replied, and scooped her up in his arms.

* * *

Penny felt every muscle in her body tighten as he carried her towards the door that led to the garage.

She saw a second car parked, it was Marcia's car and Emma and Taylor were on the back seat, Emma was tied up and gagged and crying and Taylor was slumped on top of her, still unconscious.

"Hurry up!" Claw called.

"I'm here," Penny heard Marcia reply from somewhere behind them, then Claw leaned into the passenger side of his car, dumped her roughly into the seat and as pain blurred her vision and she took in a breath, Claw draped the towel over her bullet wound.

"_Don't pretend you care!"_ she said angrily.

Claw got in the car and shut the door.

"I don't," he replied as he started the engine, "I don't care about anyone or anything except myself, because I learned a _very_ long time ago any other kind of emotion is wasted. I covered your wound to hide it. _And_ to make sure there's no chance of you bleeding in my car."

The wound still throbbed as Penny turned her head and fixed him with vengeful eyes.

"_As soon as this pain stops,"_ she said in a low voice, _"I'm going to smash your face in!"_

Claw gave no reaction as he kept his sights on the road ahead and continued to drive.

Penny leaned back against the seat as the burning in her side began to fade out and she closed her eyes, fighting thoughts that were useless now:

_She wanted to punch him in the side of the head, grab the wheel and run the car off the road._

_Or maybe run into Marcia's car and force her off the road – but Taylor and Emma were in the back and she couldn't risk them._

_The force of the bullet ripping through skin had left her weak, deeply bruised and any sudden movement would be useless and no doubt Claw would strike her back, adding to her injuries... _

_She took in another deep breath and tried to rise above the pain. It wouldn't hurt like this forever._

_Penny clung to the thought that her time would come, and then she would strike back, and that was all she could do for now...  
_

Claw slowed the car to a halt as they reached a crossing and waited for the lights to change.

"Where are we going?" she said quietly.

"You'll find out when we get there," Claw replied.

Penny looked at him, her hair hung low about her face and her eyes blazed with hatred.

"Oh great," she said darkly, "I love surprises. Maybe I'll save one up for _you _some time soon..."

Then Penny looked up sharply on hearing a squeal of rubber on road surface. A car had run into a skid and crossed lanes; a second car slammed on the brakes and swerved, horns sounded, cars weaved out of the way and as one car a came to a sharp stop at the side of the road, the other straightened up its course and carried on down the highway.

_And Penny could hear the sound of rapid breathing._

She listened, then slowly turned her head and looked at Claw, who was clutching the wheel as a look of terror came to his eyes and he stared ahead.

The road was clear now.

The lights were about to change.

_Yet Claw kept on staring, as if seeing something else._

"What's on your mind, Fat boy?"

He flinched on hearing her words and turned sharply to her.

"I lost my excess weight a very long time ago! And you're so perfect, are you? Pretending to be such a _nice_ person...and then insulting _me_ over a tragic health condition!"

A smile began to play about Penny's lips as she ignored the ache and the bruising that throbbed in her side as she realized she had touched a nerve, and now she intended to cause more pain:

"A _tragic_ health condition? You were _over weight!_ You want to talk about tragedy? I can tell you _all_ about that, about how _your_ actions caused my Uncle Gadget to lose half his body in an explosion, or if you want to come right up to date with the harm you've caused, what about your electro magnetic pulse that almost killed him? He has more courage than you'll ever have - you're just a coward! You even sneaked into his room before he got his eyes fixed just to scare him! What makes you think you could _ever_ break a man like my Uncle? You're nothing, you're pathetic! You're a loser, you don't understand the meaning of the word loss, you don't know what pain or sorrow or suffering means –"

"_SHUT UP!"_

Penny caught her breath as Claw lunged at her, leaning across her seat as his metal pincer tangled in her hair, pinning her where she sat.

His face was a fraction from hers and he had a look in his eyes she had never seen before, it was as that nerve she had touched with her words had stirred up something else, but she couldn't imagine what it could be.

"I KNOW _ALL_ ABOUT LOSS!" he yelled.

His breath was hot on her face and the grip from his pincer was pulling at the roots of her hair.

"_NEVER TELL ME I DON'T KNOW!"_

And he let go of her, all the aggression fading from his eyes as his body seemed to go limp for a moment and he turned back to the road.

"_I do know,"_ he said again, this time in a hushed voice, and the lights changed and Claw began to drive again, and would not look back at Penny as they headed over the crossing and took the road that led to the bridge that went over to the East Riverton industrial area.

Penny felt shaken by his outburst but didn't dare to show it as she wondered:

_Could it be possible that she had just uncovered a weakness of some kind, was there a way to truly upset this man without needing the energy it would take to punch him in the face?_

* * *

Police cars were racing away from Riverton Police Department.

The only car that was still parked was the Gadget Mobile.

"Chief, you _have_ to let me go with them!" the car begged.

Quimby sat in the driver's seat looking down at the computerized face on the screen and shook his head.

"You _never_ should have agreed to do anything without Gadget's knowledge! But you came back here and raised the alarm – which was the _right_ thing to do. But I can't allow you to go anywhere near Claw. You know what his EMP device did to Gadget. If you were caught up in an attack like that, you'd be scrap metal. You're an expensive car. You're part of the Gadget project. I can't risk losing you."

"But Chief, I'm partners with Inspector Gadget, more than that, G Man's my friend! And Penny's in danger and –"

The computer fell dark as the Chief manually disconnected it, pulling the plug and then keying in the manual lockdown.

Then he took the keys from the ignition and looked down at the screen once more, feeling strange to be talking to something that was, with its smart computer disabled, nothing more than just another car:

"_Sorry,"_ he said quietly, _"I can't allow it."_

And then he got out of the car and went back into the building, walking towards his office with a heavy heart as he prepared to make the call that he didn't want to make:

_Claw had kidnapped three people and one of them was Penny._

_Gadget had to be told..._

* * *

When the phone rang, Gadget just had got dressed.

He had got past the point where he needed to rest and now he wanted to get up and enjoy some of the day before he went back to bed – he had also had enough of thoughts of bed unless it involved sharing his bed with Bess, and he knew that was a sure sign he was making a good recovery.

As he began to buttoned to up his shirt he looked in the mirror and paused, running his fingertips over the scar that curved around the left side of his chest. He thought about the piece of metal inside him that replaced a part of him that he had so identified with his humanity and a vague ache began to grow, like a reminder of grief and he shook his head, rejecting the idea at once:

_He didn't need a human heart to be human, or to feel._

_The way he felt for those he loved proved that because those feelings had not changed_.

Gadget shifted his gaze to the micro chips that ran down the centre of his chest, each marked with a _G_ and he smiled as he finished getting dressed:

_He knew who he was. A titanium heart didn't change that, either.  
_

As the phone rang, he picked it up, smiling as he answered with confidence, sounding better than he had in a long while.

"Gadget speaking!"

"It's me, it's Quimby..."

"Hi Chief!" Gadget said brightly, "What's up, you sound worried. If you're worried about me, don't be! I'm feeling good. I think it won't be long before I'm back at work – but I wanted to talk to you about work, I know I've served Riverton for more than a decade now but I think it's time for me to –"

Gadget didn't get as far as the word _retire. _The Chief spoke again, his voice hushed.

"I'm sorry, Gadget. I don't know how this happened, but Claw took Taylor Braydon's secretary. He was hoping to use her to get Taylor to hand over Braydon Industries. Then Penny and Taylor decided to try and stop him on their own. _He has them both._"

Gadget caught his breath as wave of panic washed over him.

_"Claw's got Penny?"_

"I've got my officers on the way over to the home of Marcia Glass. Claw's been working with the owner of Glass Co, this would seem to add up with him being able to build the EMP device that almost killed you. I'm asking you to stay put and wait for news –"

"Sir, I can't do that!"

Gadget heard a phone ringing, and then the Chief spoke up sharply:

"You will do as I say, Gadget! I've got my people on the line now – give me ten seconds!"

There was _click_ as the Chief put Gadget on hold, and as he waited, he knew he was sweating and his body was shaking and he kept expecting his titanium heart to race, but his chest remained still despite the worry that swirled around his body like the darkening clouds of a fast approaching storm.

Then the Chief was back on the line.

"Sorry," he said, "they got there too late – the house is empty. Claw's gone on the run. But the hostages are gone too, so we have to believe they're still alive."

Thoughts of turning his back on his role as defender of Riverton got wiped out in a second.

"I'm calling Bess Nightingale," Gadget said,"I'm getting the shield system fitted and I'm going after Claw. I can't sit back and do nothing."

"I know that," Quimby replied, "and I won't stop you. I'll send the Gadget Mobile over to you. Let me know when the shields are up and running - but _don't_ do anything else until you speak with me first, we may have a lead by then. In the mean time, my officers will keep looking."

"Thanks," Gadget replied and cut off the call, and he then hit speed dial to reach Bess and as the thought ran through his mind that his niece was in danger, he hoped she would understand that he needed the shield system fitted _today_...

* * *

Marcia's car slowed to a halt.

Claw's car did the same and Penny looked around, confused at the sight of empty and crumbling buildings. This was the far end of East Riverton, the old industrial site that had long since fallen into ruin. Penny scanned the area for their likely destination, but saw only partly standing buildings, some boarded up, others half decayed and covered with graffiti.

"Is this the best you can do?" she said as she turned to Claw, "Is this what you've been reduced to while you were on the run?"

Claw glanced in the mirror and ran his fingers through his hair and then turned to Penny.

"Excuse me?"

Marcia sounded the car horn and he looked at her sharply.

She was parked alongside him and telling him she was waiting.

"In a minute!" he called back, and then looked at Penny again.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean, you think I'm some sort of failure?"

Penny saw a spark of insecurity in his eyes and felt a small glow of triumph.

"I know you're a pathetic loser. I was referring to what _else_ you've had to resort to...getting yourself a rich girlfriend to finance your evil plans, hiding out at her nice big house while you do your plotting? And now you've nowhere to run to but _this_ dump? How things have changed for you, how you've gone down in the world!"

Claw laughed as he held up a remote control.

"Were _all _going down in the world!" he declared, and hit a button.

Penny gave a gasp as the ground began to sink.

Then as she looked around she realized Marcia's car was also sinking, but as the descent became slow and steady and she realised they were on a hidden platform, her eyes grew wider.

"Where are you taking me?" she said in a hushed voice.

Claw flashed her a bright smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"My underground lair," he said darkly, "and I must admit, it is rather impressive – wait till you see it, you'll be astonished!"

They were still descending.

Penny closed her eyes and said silent prayer that someone would come to her rescue – someone, _anyone_ -but not her Uncle Gadget, because he wasn't strong enough to face Claw and his deadly weapon for a second time...

* * *

As the door burst open, Bess looked up from her desk.

"You're supposed to be resting, I told you I can't do this until Brenda gets back, she told me I had say no, I had to wait..."

Gadget stood before her with a pleading look in his eyes.

_"Claw's got Penny!"_

Bess gave a heavy sigh. When Gadget had called her distraught and begging for the shields to be fitted now, she had said no, she had tried to explain the dangers he was facing, but Gadget had refused to listen.

"How did you get here so fast?" she demanded.

Gadget avoided her gaze for a moment, considered lying to the one he loved and then decided against it, giving her the truth:

_"I used my helicopter hat."_

Bess got up from her desk.

"You're using heavy-duty gadgets when you're not fully recovered? Are you crazy?"

Gadget blinked away tears.

"He's got Penny! I don't care if Brenda said no – I'm _begging_ you!"

"Brenda is on a plane. She's cutting her vacation short and she's coming back to Riverton in twenty-four hours. She said you can have the shield fitted then, when it's safer –"

_"When Penny and Taylor and his secretary could be dead!"_

Bess felt tears stinging at her eyes as she turned back to the phone.

"Okay, I'll speak to her again."

Gadget gave a sigh and paced the floor as Bess made the call.

He listened as Bess tried to explain, then as she said, _"he won't listen,"_ Gadget grabbed the phone from her.

"Sorry," he said as he caught the look on her face, then he spoke to Brenda:

"I need it fitted now. Claw has Penny and I'm not wasting another moment of her life or the other two hostages! If you won't authorize it, I'll go after Claw _without_ the shield. Have you got that?"

There was a brief silence. Then Brenda spoke up again.

"Alright, I'll agree to let you have it fitted. But you have to let Bess explain the risk to you first, because it's way too soon for you to be exposed to another EMP device! If he uses it against you before your connections are healed you will suffer terrible damage to non-essential wiring and you _have _to understand that before she goes ahead. Put her back on the phone, Gadget!"

"Thank you." Gadget said quietly.

He handed the phone back to Bess, then stood silent, his thoughts with Penny as he hoped his niece was still unharmed.

When Bess put the phone down, she walked around the desk, stood beside him and turned around the computer screen and selected a program.

"Gadget," she said, "this is a simulation of what will happen to you if you are exposed to another catastrophic overload before all of your cybernetic to living tissue connections are fully healed. You need to see this, because it's too soon for you to be running the shield and getting hit by another electro magnetic pulse."

Gadget watched the screen as it displayed a computerized image of his body and its inner connections. As a wave passed through the image, he saw wires blacken like burnt matches.

"All the wires that cracked or partially fried are around these areas," Bess told him as she moved her finger across the screen and shifted the image about in close up, "Non-essential wiring means the wiring that's not connected directly to vital organs. It also refers to wiring that's placed directly into human connective tissue, where cyborg parts meet nerve endings –your artificial to human nerve endings. That means you will sustain damage that will affect your arms, your hands, your legs, there's even small wires in your spine that could burn out. And there's a connecting wire that runs from the artificial side of your brain to the human side and if that fries you could even suffer brain damage."

She caught a flicker of apprehension in his eyes.

"_Please_ listen to me," Bess said, "if he hits you with that device again before these connections are fully healed, when those wires crack or fry, the surrounding tissue that isn't yet healed could be cauterised. That means you could lose the nerve endings you need in order for cybernetic connections to work properly. Even if we replaced the wiring, it would have to go deeper, it would be _very_ complicated and the outcome would not be good."

As she looked into his eyes and saw a combination of fear and determination to see it through, she fought against the urge to cry as she spoke to Gadget not as a doctor, but as his lover:

"_Please leave this to Quimby!"_

Gadget reached out and caught a tear as it ran from her eye, brushing it away gently.

"You know I can't do that, Bess. I'm the only one who can go after Claw; no one else is a match for him."

Bess slowly nodded.

"Then I'd better explain how the shields function," she said quietly.

"Will they work?" Gadget asked her.

"You will have protection around your vital organs, nothing essential to supporting life will be unprotected. But like you saw on the simulation, everything _else_ could be shattered if he uses the device again, because this is too soon, Gadget. It's_ far_ too soon for you to be doing this."

"But if he hits me with it again, I'll live?"

Bess blinked again to clear her vision.

"Yes, you'll live –"

"_That's good enough for me,"_ Gadget said, _"Let's do it, I don't have any more time to lose..."_

* * *

As the platform hit ground level, Penny looked around and found herself in the middle of a large control center, there were monitors and arrays of computerised equipment. The lights that shone down were set up high, fixed into rock.

"You built this place?"

Claw smiled.

"I told you it was impressive."

Penny turned her face away.

"I'm not impressed. I think you're sick!"

Claw ignored her remark, getting out of the car and then going around to the passenger side and opening the door and grabbing her by the arm.

As she struggled to her feet and more pain cut through her side, she thought about fighting back and Claw caught the look in her eyes.

"Don't try anything," he warned her, "or I'll give you another bullet wound and this one might finish you off!"

He kept a firm grip on her arm.

Marcia had opened the passenger door of her own car. Taylor Braydon was still out cold and Emma was crying. She gave a muffled squeal of alarm as Marcia pulled her from the car, keeping the gun trained on her.

"Lock them up," Claw instructed, "I'm taking Penny with me."

As Claw forced her to walk, the bruising from the bullet wound ached sharply, but Claw kept his pincer clamped about her wrist and Penny knew she had no chance of making a move to fight back while he had her in such a grip – if she moved or turned sharply, that pincer would tighten and snap her wrist in half...

They came to a closed metal door and Claw keyed in a number sequence.

The door slid back and they walked into a corridor where there were several closed doors.

As she thought about the fact that she was underground and alone with Claw, she fought against the urge to panic.

"Where are you taking me?"

Claw opened a second door and led her into a pale room with basic bedroom furniture.

"This is my private room," he told her, "I want you to rest here. The door is reinforced and has triple locking, you won't get out."

And he pushed her down on to the bed.

Her throat tightened as Claw stood in front of her and began to take off his tie.

"What are you doing?"

"Give me your hands," he said, and when she did nothing he grabbed them, and bound them tightly with his tie.

"You can have a rest now," he said, "and I know you won't get away – you're the most important prisoner of all now – I can now tell Inspector Gadget that I have his niece and there won't be a thing he can do about it...unless he wants to come looking for you."

And a slow smile spread across his face.

"I hope he _does_ come looking for you," he added, drawing a black, pyramid-shaped box from his pocket.

He opened it up and showed her a button set among a complicated looking piece of electrical equipment where lights blinked red.

"This is my EMP device," he told her, "so small and clever, and capable of _such_ damage..."

Penny's temper reached boiling point and she aimed a kick at his hand, crying out in pain as he ducked back and she fell back on to the bed as the pain in her side ached deeply.

Claw put the device back in his pocket and chuckled.

"So passionate...and so stupid."

_"When I get out of here, I'm going to take that box of yours and shove it so far up some place, you'll need a doctor to get it out again!"_

Claw raised an eyebrow.

"I doubt if you could manage that... and I had no idea you had thoughts of getting so close and personal with me."

Her eyes blazed.

Claw smirked.

_And then a ringing sound filled the room._

Penny stared at Claw...there was a _phone_ in here some where?

Claw crossed the room and lifted a small hand set from the wall.

"Hello?" he said, and the look on his face spoke volumes to Penny:

_He had not been expecting a call from anyone..._

Claw listened to the silence on the other end of the line, then hit the loudspeaker button and placed it on the table as he reached for another tie draped over the open closet door to bind Penny's legs.

"I believe you have the wrong number..." he announced.

And then the caller spoke up in a youthful, but deep voice:

"Mister Scolex - I mean Claw! I've been tracking you down, how hard can it be to look for you? I've been all over the place... so when are we good to go on our plan?"

And Penny say up on the bed, watching with interest as the blood drained from Claw's face as fear flickered in his eyes.

She stared at him:

_Claw was afraid of this guy? _

_There was actually someone out there in the world who Claw was frightened of?_

"_Our_ plan?" he said nervously. Sweat was running down his face now, he was visibly shaken up and Penny's eyes grew wider as she wondered what was going on.

"You know," the caller said, his speech quickening impatiently, "the plan that suits us both – you take over the cybernetics Industries, turn half the labs into human conversion research and then I get my new body, then I get rid of the machine. I've got my scientist ready to get to work on everything – you know, Kramer, your old friend? I'm just waiting on _you _to get going on our plan!"

"Well..." Claw began, pacing the floor as he avoided Penny's gaze and nervously ran his fingers through his hair, "Let me see... plan..._plan?_"

And then he nervously tapped his pincer together.

"Oh yes_, that_ plan! Well I'm not actually _here._..I arranged for my calls to be diverted through the secret phone and sent on to my cell phone. I'm not in the country yet...I'm in..." he paused, searching for an answer, "I'm in Switzerland, checking out a scientist who I'd like on my new team. Yes, that's where I am and that's what I'm doing. I'll be around in three, maybe four months time..."

"You'd better not be lying to me," the caller said darkly as his voice slipped through the phone and echoed around the room and seemed to fill every corner, _"don't make me come and find you and rip off your head, Mister Claw!"_

And there was a pause.

Claw looked on the brink of tears and then the caller laughed manically and Claw laughed too, on the verge of hysteria.

"Oh yes, you're _so_ funny, young man! As _if_ you'd do a thing like that..."

The laughter had stopped now.

"_Maybe I would. I don't like people who take me for a fool. I'm Riley Hammerstone, I'm not stupid!. My life is destroyed and I need your help. If you let me down, you'll wish you'd never been born."_

Claw took in a shaky breath.

"I can't help you yet. You'll have to wait."

"_Wait?" _

Anger had crept into the young man's voice now.

"Look I'm sorry, I have to go, I'll be in touch –"

"_You'd better be or I'll-"_

Claw ended the call and ripped the cord from the wall.

He gripped the phone in his pincer as he shakily tried to wind the cord around it.

"Who's Riley Hammerstone?" Penny asked him, and Claw's pincer jerked nervously, splitting the phone casing with a _crack_. He dropped the phone to the floor and shook his head.

"No one!" He stated, "And you won't be making any calls on that, it's broken. I'll leave you to rest now."

And he glanced in the mirror that was placed on the dresser, ran his shaking human hand through his hair, took in a deep breath and left the room, locking the door behind him.

Penny waited.

_Who ever that Hammerstone guy was, he had scared Claw so much he had forgotten to use the spare tie to bind her legs..._

"I wonder..." Penny whispered, and then, still aware of the pain in her side, began to edge her way towards the end of the bed, hoping that when she hit the floor that phone could be fixed somehow, even though her hands were tied...

* * *

Far off in another town, a young man in blue jeans and a dark leather jacket slammed down a phone.

His light grey eyes were darkening and the rage inside him was building.

"Three months?" he said in a low voice.

Then his eyes blazed.

"_THREE FREAKING MONTHS?"_ he yelled, and grabbed the payphone and tugged, ripping it effortlessly from its fixings, kicking the door of the booth off its hinges and hurling the payphone into the road as cars screeched and swerved as the phone hit tarmac and small change showered the highway.

He stepped out of the booth and, with glass cracking beneath his boots as he stood on the broken door, he placed his hands either side of the doorway and ripped.

Glass shattered, metal tore like paper as he tugged the booth from its foundations and tossed it far down the street.

People were running, screaming, Riley walked on, ignoring the sound of someone yelling _Call the cops_.

A terrified young man not much older than him looked into his eyes with fear as he hurried past him.

Adrenaline was pumping around his machine body, the machine he hated so much.

Riley caught the look in the strangers eyes and turned back to him.

"_You want some of this?"_ he yelled as his eyes burned and seemed to dilate and twist like kaleidoscopes.

And the frightened man turned and ran.

Sirens echoed in the distance.

Riley ignored the mess he had just caused, turned down into an alley and cut through into another street, leaving the chaos behind him.

* * *

Bess had felt nervous as she prepared to place the shield system into Gadget.

Now he was in the lab, on the table, his human-joined-with-metal body naked beneath the glow of the map that shone green, projected overhead to pinpoint the location for each of the implants.

Bess paused as she looked down at him, his body covered with the illuminated grid. Gadget was already anesthetized and she knew all he would feel when he woke up were vague aches and pains where the implants had been shot into his body, but she couldn't put aside the thought that he was having it fitted too soon and was about to run a terrible risk; it was something she couldn't forget any more than she could forget the man she was about to operate on was her lover, too...

"_I wish you'd left it to Quimby,"_she said quietly, then she loaded the first of many small implants, positioned the firing device against the right side of his upper chest, and pulled the trigger.

There was a sharp _snap _and Gadget's body jerked, and then as she drew it away, a tiny hole leaked blooded and oil and she cleaned it off.

Bruising was beginning to darken around the first implant and she loaded the device again, knowing this would take several hours and when Gadget woke up, he would be sore – but not for long because cyborgs healed fast. _Then he would be off to find Penny and take on Claw - and if Claw used the EMP weapon again_...tears had filled her eyes.

Bess slowly and carefully continued to fire the implants into her lover's body as a single thought went around in her mind:  
_It was too soon, it was far to soon for him to be taking such a risk..._


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Taylor Braydon woke up with an aching head.

He gave a groan and raised himself from the bed and then as he realized he was looking into Emma's eyes and Emma was gagged and tied up, he gave a cry of alarm, tried to pull away and cried out again, noticing his own hands were also tied, and so were his ankles.

"Why are we on a bed, tied up? I have a headache too!"

His eyes grew wider.

"Oh no!" he said in a hushed voice, "I didn't want us to do it like this! Did we get drunk last night and..."

Emma, whose gag had now been removed, gave a sigh:

_At a time like this, Taylor, whilst usually cute with his bumbling mistakes and misunderstandings, was beginning to grate on her nerves because this was a dire situation..._

"Taylor, we've been _kidnapped!_ Claw kidnapped me and then he grabbed you and Penny when you showed up at the house!"

He shifted back a little, leaning against the pillows as he breathed a sigh of relief and laughed.

"Oh! I see! We've been kidnapped! That's great, because I thought for a moment, that you and me got drunk and got wild and did kinky lovemaking involving rope, I saw that happen once in an erotic cybernetic art DVD called _Cyborg Gangbang, Volume 12!_"

Emma stared at him in disbelief.

"_Cyborg Gangbang?_ We've been abducted, and you're talking about _porn_?"

Taylor smiled a goofy smile.

"No, it's cyborg art – _naked_ cyborg art - I learned everything I know from movies like that! And I'm glad we've been kidnapped!" he said, "I can handle that! I just thought when I woke up, that we might have gone all the way, and I don't want to do that until we get married."

Emma blinked.

"Did you just propose to me?"

Taylor was still smiling.

"Yes!"

"Get us out of here and _then _I'll marry you. Because we won't be going anywhere or doing anything if we can't escape! Claw has us, Taylor – _he's dangerous!_"

Taylor tried in vain to work his bonds loose.

"If I can untie my hands, I'll be okay..."

Then a thought hit him.

"Stay right where you are!" he said, rolling on his side, closer to her, and then shifting closer still.

Emma was confused. She had no chance to untie his hands, because he was now pressed up against her, facing her, and his hands were tied _behind_ his back...

"Can you feel something in my pocket?" he said excitedly.

Emma glared at him.

"Will you stop thinking about sex?"

"I'm not; I'm talking about the big lump in my pocket, the _hard_ one..."

"Taylor, _stop it,_ I know you're a virgin, I know we're in a scary situation and you're trying to cope with it, but this is _not _the answer!"

He shifted closer.

"Feel it?"

Her eyes widened.

Taylor smiled.

"It's a gun," he told her, "Claw said, right before he knocked me out, that I'm stupid! He thought I'd be too stupid to be carrying a firearm..."

Panic filled Emma's eyes.

"Is the safety on?"

"Of course!" Taylor replied,"I may not be the smartest guy in the world, but I know how to handle a gun properly!"

"But you're tied up, Taylor!"

Emma's words finally got though to him.

"Oh yeah, I get it! I need you to try and untie me!"

And he rolled over, shifting about and she turned her back on him and reached for his tied hands.

As she reached for his bonds, Taylor grabbed her hands.

"Even though we're tied up by a ruthless villain, we can _still_ hold hands!" he said said warmly.

Emma gave a sigh and prised her fingers out of his grasp and began to try to work the rope loose.

* * *

Marcia had tired of standing outside the locked door where Taylor Braydon and his secretary were being held captive.

She looked around and felt as if the weight of the ground above this place was bearing down on her. She wanted to think about all that had happened but every time she tried to think, guilt and fear crowded her mind as she wondered what would become of her if Claw's plans went wrong.

She walked away from the locked door and paused, glancing back at the door further up the corridor, where Claw had locked Penny away.

Then she shook her head; it was a stupid thought because Claw often looked at her with such need in his eyes when he said they made a good team...but she was starting to wonder if it had _all_ been about using her, as if there had never been a trace of real affection because all his promises seemed empty now...

She walked to the end of the corridor. Claw was walking towards her and as she opened the door to the third room that had been turned into a sleeping area, she waited.

"You look like you could use some rest," she remarked.

Claw looked into her eyes and that look was as empty as the feeling in her that confirmed the worst:

_He had made many promises. _

_He has even kissed her once, then pushed her away saying business came before pleasure._

_But she could see it now; he had no feelings for her, they had never existed in the first place..._

"You'd better have a lie down, then," he said, "I've got work to do."

And Claw walked away, in the direction of the same bedroom where he was holding Penny.

Marcia went into her room and closed the door, locking it before she leaned against it, needing the solidity of it against her back because right now it was the only thing solid she could be sure was safe enough to lean on... she thought of Gadget's niece, in her twenties, pretty. Penny wouldn't give Claw what he wanted and although he was ruthless, she didn't imagine him the kind of man to take what he wanted, either...

_Would Claw rape a woman?_

_No, not his style. _

_Even evil had standards._

But it was clear his interest did not lie here, in the one person who had shielded him, financed his plans and broken the law for him.

Marcia wiped away tears as she was tormented by the thought of the one thing she wanted that seemed out of her reach:

_She wanted out of this situation; she wanted to run away and keep on running and never look back..._

* * *

As the lock slid back Penny sat up sharply, kicking the phone under the bed as she hoped he wouldn't recall he had left it in the middle of the floor.

She held her breath and fought the pain that throbbed in her side as she pulled herself back on to the bed.

Claw came into the room and she looked at him with hatred in her eyes as she sat upright, her tied hands resting in her lap.

"What do you want?"

He closed the door and sat down on the edge of the bed and Penny shifted away, the pain in her side burning as she made a sudden movement.

"I wanted to get some rest," he said," but I won't be sleeping, you can sleep if you want to."

And he briefly held up his hands.

"I won't touch you, I'm not an animal, you're perfectly safe with me."

"Why is this room so secure?"

Claw had got up and gone over to a bureau. He took a key from his pocket and unlocked it, reached inside and drew out a photo album.

"What did you say?"

Penny felt utter frustration; if not for the wound in her side, she could have jumped up and kicked him in the back of the head, but she knew she was in no fit state to do that just yet...

"I asked you why this room is so secure. The thick door, the heavy lock...what are you expecting, an army to come in here? Or is it my Uncle Gadget you're afraid of?"

A brief look of fear returned to his eyes and then it was gone.

Penny stared at him as the clues fell into place.

"_Why_ are you scared of Riley Hammerstone? Who _is_ he?"

"I'm not scared of him!" Claw said sharply, raising his pincer as he glared at her, "Forget Hammerstone, he's no one."

And then he looked down at the photo album.

"I'm going to show you something," he told her, "I want to explain something to you."

As he sat down on the bed she shifted over, resisting the urge to kick out at him, because as long as he had something on his mind, he wasn't about to notice she had hidden the phone that she was certain she could repair...

"I want you to see some old pictures," he said, and this was bait that she couldn't fail to snatch at.

"Are you going to show me some pictures of the days when you were _tragically_ obese?"

Penny expected anger, but felt confused to see her words had no effect.

"No, these were taken in the days when I was building up my empire," he said, "before I –"

"Murdered Brenda Bradford's father, almost killed my Uncle and became known as an insane and dangerous criminal?" Penny remarked.

Claw's gaze was fixed on the photographs and he still showed no signs of anger.

_It made Penny want to try harder._

"No," Claw said," I had a fiancée, her name was Agnes."

Penny glanced at the picture of Claw in the days when he was known as Sanford Scolex, with his arm around a young woman.

"Oh, this is astounding!" Penny said, as spite crept into her voice, "Do you _seriously _mean to tell me that someone, somewhere, was insane or disturbed enough to fall in love with a maniac like you? She looks so _normal_, Claw! What was wrong with her? There must have been something, because no one in their right mind would take up with a _freak_ like you!"

And a smile began to play about her lips as she noticed tension building in the way he drew in a breath and straightened up his shoulders, as if wishing his stronger posture could deflect her verbal blows.

"She left me," he said quietly, briefly closing his eyes as he braced himself for Penny's reaction.

"Of _course_ she did!" Penny replied, "That's _so_ good to know!"

And then he turned the page.

Penny stared at the picture of Sanford, who was holding a baby in his arms.

"I really, _really_ hope that kid's not yours...I know even cockroaches have the right to breed, but another _Claw_ in this world?" Penny said in disgust.

His gaze was still fixed on the picture.

"Agnes didn't agree with the way I conducted my business, she said I was too cruel, ruthless. She left me and she took our son with her. I tried to find them but her parents had heard the stories and they hated me, they wanted better for their daughter. They made sure I couldn't contact her. Then I found out a year later, that a drunk driver had run into her car at a junction. She was killed. My son was also in the car. He was killed too."

Claw had reeled off the facts with such little emotion in his voice, but as he looked at her she saw pain in his eyes.

"_Never_ tell me I don't know what it's like to suffer!" he said angrily, "Because I _do_, you stupid girl!"

Then he got up, took the photos with him and left the room, slamming the door and turning the lock loudly.

The sound of the locking door echoed around the room, and Penny sat there feeling stunned... Claw had lost a fiancée and a baby son?

As much as she hated him for all he had done, when she thought of the picture of his baby son, she wanted tell him she was sorry. Even her Uncle Gadget would have said that if had known. It didn't make her hate Claw any less, but she could put the tragedy in its own separate place as she thought about how sad the situation had been. Now she understood why he had become so shaky at the wheel when he had witnessed the near miss on the highway. She guessed he probably thought about Agnes and his son every day.

_But it didn't make her pity Claw._

_Many people suffered loss and tragedy in their lives - but they didn't become evil because of it; Claw had no excuse for all he had done._

But all the same, she couldn't shake off the look she had caught in his eyes as he had angrily turned to her – she had seen so much coldness, bitterness... and she couldn't wipe it from her mind no matter how hard she tried.

Then Penny's thoughts turned to the phone beneath the bed. She looked down at her bound hands and wondered how she could get free, because that wiring wouldn't fix itself and without it, she wouldn't stand a chance of getting it working again, or calling for help...

* * *

_"How are you feeling?"_

Gadget moved cautiously and felt flickers of pain run through his body.

"Like I've been in a fight and come out of it very badly."

He looked up at Bess, who was standing next to his bed.

"How long has it been since you put the shield system in place?"

"Not long enough!" she said firmly, "You have to rest for a while longer. If you don't, you'll collapse and you won't be going anywhere, Gadget!"

He closed his eyes again.

"As soon as the time's up I want to call the Chief. I need to know what they've found out and I need to be out there, I need to find Claw..."

Gadget fell silent as he drifted back to sleep.

Bess looked down at him and noticed the way the puncture wounds in his upper body were already starting to heal.

In six hours time, as the sun rose on a new day in Riverton, he would be ready to leave, but she didn't know if he would be coming back from the fight he was looking for.

It was too soon_. It was far too soon, he was facing a battle in a body that wasn't ready for it..._

Bess left him to sleep, hoping between now and when he woke up, there would be a call from Quimby to say that Penny and the others had been found and Claw was back behind bars.

But she knew that wouldn't happen – Gadget was right, he was the _only_ one who could take on Claw and win...

* * *

Taylor had shifted about awkwardly on the bed for hours and he worked with Emma to try and get free.

"I'm going numb!" he complained, "I need to turn over!"

"Wait..."

Emma caught the end of the rope and pushed it up, felt it loosen and tugged at it.

Taylor's hands flew apart and he sat up.

"I'm free!" he exclaimed, and rolled off the bed, landing with a hard thump.

Emma wriggled up the end of the bed and looked over in time to see him pull himself upright.

"But I forgot, my legs are _also_ tied!" he added.

Then Taylor reached down and clumsily fiddled in vain with the knot.

"Can you do this one for me as well?" he said hopefully.

Emma gave a sigh.

"Not with my hands tied behind my back!"

"Oh, I forgot about that..."

Taylor tried again, grabbing at the knot.

"As soon as I'm free, I'll untie you!"

"No, just get out of here and get help! No one knows where we are, Taylor. And you've got a gun, you can defend yourself."

He stared at her, feeling an ache in his heart.

"I can't leave you here!"

"And I can't shoot my way out like you can! Just get free and go!"

Taylor's eyes blurred with tears as the knot came loose and the rope fell away from his ankles.

"Okay," he said quietly, and then he got up and leaned over Emma.

"But let me try and untie you first."

"No!" she told him, "Leave me here, I can say you escaped and ran off – if they find me untied too I could be in worse trouble. You can't waste time, go _now!_"

Taylor gave her a brief kiss and then got up.

"Okay... I'll try and get the door open..."

And then he smiled as a sudden idea came to him and he drew the gun from his pocket and and took off the safety catch.

"NO!" Emma said in alarm, "They'll hear the shot!"

Taylor thought for a moment.

"I'll kick it down!"

"They'll hear that too!"

Then Emma had an idea that she hoped would work.

"Grab two pillows and fire the shot through it, that way the sound will be muffled."

Taylor's eyes filled with confusion.

"But I want to shoot the _door_, not the pillows!"

Emma gave another sigh.

"No, Taylor, listen to me – shoot through the pillows _into_ the door!"

His eyes lit up.

"I get it!" he said, and grabbed two pillows off the bed and pressed the gun behind them, aiming for the door lock.

As he squeezed the trigger, there was a muffled shot and the door swung open.

"You did it!" Emma said.

Taylor clumsily waved the gun about as he flapped his hands and pushed his hair off his face, spitting out feathers from the pillows.

"I hate feathers! They tickle, get them _off_ me!"

Emma spat a feather from her mouth as the last of the stuffing from the pillows fluttered downwards.

"_Just go!"_

Taylor swept more feathers from his hair and then nodded, straightening up and he approached the doorway.

"And be careful!" Emma reminded him.

He looked back at her.

"Don't worry, I'll be okay...I'll go and get some help..."

And then he smiled.

"I love you," he added.

"I love you too," Emma replied.

Taylor's eyes sparkled.

"But I love you more, I love you _so_ much –"

"Taylor, there's no time – Go!"

"Okay," he said nervously, then checked the corridor was empty, and bolted from the room.

* * *

Penny had used a plastic razor she had found in the cabinet in the bathroom, she had knocked it out of the cupboard, smashed it with her shoe and carefully grasped the blade, twisting it towards the rope as she stood with her back to the bathroom mirror and tried to fray the rope. Twice the blade had slipped and small cuts to her arm stung but she kept a grip on the blade as she worked, determined to get free.

As the tension that wrapped her wrists together fell away, she gave a sigh and dropped the blade, using all her strength to snap the remaining rope that was hanging by thread.

As it fell away she rubbed her wrists and the left the bathroom.

Then Penny stopped, thinking about the thick door with the heavy locks...

No, she would have to try the phone first...

She grabbed it and put it on the bed, lifting away broken casing as she paused to strip a wire with her teeth and then twist broken ends together.

_"Please work!"_ she whispered, then took the phone over to the wall and plugged it in.

"Come on," she said in a low voice, "I just need _one_ call..."

And then her hopes fell – there was no dial tone, nothing. Obviously the phone had taken more damage than a snapped wire...

Then the floor opened suddenly, the locks were snapping back and Penny pulled the cord from the wall and tossed the phone to the floor, panic running through her as she realized she was about to be caught with her hands untied...

The door opened.

Marcia looked at her.

"I heard a noise. It sounded like a -"

And Marcia fell silent noticing Penny's untied hands.

"Oh no!" she said, reaching for the gun in her pocket.

Penny lunged forward.

She was sure her side was burning as she smashed her arm into Marcia's throat and sent her sprawling into the corridor, but all she could focus on was the open door, the firsts step to getting out of here...

Marcia staggered to her feet as she grabbed at her throat and coughed.

Penny was out the door like a blur.

_"You protected that bastard?"_ she hissed, _"You protected the man who almost killed my Uncle?"_

Marcia let go of her throat and looked up. Penny aimed a kick and caught her jaw, throwing her back against the wall again.

As her face throbbed in pain and the room span, the gun was snatched from her hand.

Marcia painfully turned her head.

Penny was running off down the corridor.

The thought came to Marcia that the corridor turned into a dead end; the girl had gone the wrong way...but Penny didn't know that. Then Marcia remembered she had just lost a prisoner - and Claw, who called her a minion, saw her as disposable...

_Her mind was made up. _

She turned the other way and ran for the control room, hoping Claw would not catch her as she activated the platform to reach surface level...

* * *

Taylor Braydon had found the control room empty.

He had run over to the platform and stepped on to it, panic flashing in his eyes as he saw the array of controls and wondered which one would take him up to the surface. Then he heard running and looked up sharply, aiming his gun as Marcia came to a halt in the middle of the room.

"I'm getting out of here!" he told her, "If you stop me, I'll shoot you just like you shot Penny!"

Marcia held out her hands, her own gun clattering to the floor as it slipped from her grip.

"Please take me with you!"

Taylor stared at her.

"You _shot_ Penny! You're working for Claw!"

She shook her head and the effort caused her pain.

"Not any more...I swear!"

Taylor noticed the bruises on her throat, on her face, her lip was split and she had the beginning of a black eye.

"Did Claw do that?" he said in a shocked voice.

She saw her chance and lied to gain her freedom.

"_Yes!"_

Taylor gestured with the gun.

"Get in!"

Marcia dashed on to the platform.

"Now tell me, which one of these complicated buttons takes us up manually?" he demanded.

She looked at the buttons, then back at Taylor.

"Well, the big one with arrow that points _up_, of course..."

"Thank you!"

Taylor hit the button and the platform began to rise.

* * *

Claw left the photographs locked away in an office area, he had no plans to leave the pictures with Penny, he had showed them to her but now wanted to lock them away, because looking at them made him want to weep and he didn't wish to waste more time on tears.

He walked on down the corridor and then stopped, seeing the door to the room that held Taylor and Emma had been shot open.

Claw stared inside...

Emma was still tied up.

_Taylor Braydon was gone._

"Where is he?" Claw demanded.

Emma shook her head.

"I don't know...he just ran..."

Claw reached in and grabbed her, dragging her out of the room and leading her to a second door, in here there was nothing but blank walls and a carpet and he shoved her inside and locked her in.

"You won't be going anywhere!" he shouted through the locked door, "And when I find your idiot boyfriend, I'm going to _kill_ him!"

Then his eyes widened...the room where Penny had been held captive was empty, the door was open and she was gone...

"_No!" _he yelled in anger, and ran for the control room.

* * *

"Taylor!" Penny yelled as she dashed into the room and saw the platform rising.

"Penny - come over here, I'll stop this thing!" Taylor called out.

Marcia looked at him in horror.

"We can't go back, we have to get out, there's no time!"

As she stood there in the gloom as the platform rose, Taylor ignored her, reaching for the buttons as he kept the gun trained in her direction.

"Let me see...if the up button means up, the down button must be the _other_ arrow -"

Penny screamed.

The view of the control room was disappearing as they went upwards; Taylor's last glimpse of Gadget's niece was of her screaming as Claw sneaked up behind her and clamped her slender wrist tightly in his metal pincer. She struggled, dropping the gun and then she screamed and looked to the ascending platform.

"_GET HELP!"_ Penny yelled, and then the platform was out of sight.

Claw clamped her wrist harder, causing pain that made her sink to her knees.

"You won't get away from me that easily," he said darkly,"I have you and I still have Emma and I can _still _make my demands!"

The pincer was bruising bone as she sat on the stone floor and glared up at him.

"But you won't win this one," she promised him, "Taylor will fetch help!"

"And I have the whole of the cybernetic world at my mercy," he reminded her,"The EMP device can cause a lot of damage."

Then he smiled and that smile made her blood run cold.

"What are you planning?" she said in a hushed voice.

As he kept her wrist painfully clamped, he gestured around the room.

"Observe the marvellous array of machinery!" he said, "This, my dear, is the biggest EMP device in the world. And once activated, it will wipe out more than fifty percent of all cyborg life - and leave the rest sufficiently crippled to be dependant on the technology of _my_ vast empire to repair them! I need to start with Braydon Industries. I still have Emma; I can still make that bargain. And the cops won't touch me, not when they know I'm inside a machine that could wipe out the cyborg race at the touch of a button!"

And Claw dragged her to her feet, took her through the control centre and back towards his room.

"I'm locking you up again," he said as his voice echoed around the brightly lit, hollow-sounding corridor,"and I wouldn't worry about your Uncle Gadget- if he sets foot in this place, it will be the last thing he ever does!"

Penny's rage was simmering again.

She regretted not killing Marcia Glass when she had the chance, but thoughts of escape had taken over.

She thought of Taylor and wondered why she had spotted Marcia on the platform with him. Taylor had seemed to be holding her at gun point...

Then Claw shoved her back into the room and slammed the door and locked it.

Suddenly Penny's rage vanished as she thought about the threat Claw had just made...

She didn't want her Uncle Gadget to come to her rescue, because he couldn't take another hit from that device...a second one would kill him, she felt sure of it.

Penny's resolve finally crumbled and she sat down on the bed and wept, hoping that when help did come, it would be from Quimby's flesh and blood officers, who wouldn't be affected by the blast from the EMP device...

_"Please keep away, please stay safe, Uncle Gadget,"_ Penny whispered, and then she sat in silence, waiting for help to come.

* * *

They had reached the surface.

Taylor stepped off the platform and kept the gun aimed at Marcia.

"I may not have much man metal," he announced, "but it _is_ there. And I'm not an Inspector, but consider this a cyborg citizen's arrest! I'm calling the cops and you're coming with me, I'm handing you over to Chief Quimby!"

She backed away from the gun, stumbling over rubble as she looked at him with frightened eyes.

"Please, just let me go! I was his minion; he forced me to do so many terrible things!"

A flicker of sympathy came to his eyes as he briefly thought about it.

"Can you tell me why Claw built that underground lair? What's all the electrical stuff for?"

"It's a huge EMP device, he wants to partly wipe out the cyborg population - certainly to get the numbers down – and damage the rest, so he can charge the survivors sky high fees for replacement parts, when he takes over the cybernetics industries of the world."

Taylor felt overwhelmed.

"Wow...that's a _lot_ of information! Thanks!"

Marcia stepped back again

"So please, can I go? Just let me run, Taylor!"

He looked at her thoughtfully.

"I don't know...and I don't have much time, I need to go and get help...Marcia, do you _promise_ me you will stay out of trouble in future?"

Marcia stared at him. She recalled Claw's words and concluded he had been right... this guy really _was_ dim...

"Of course I promise, Taylor!"

He put the safety back on the gun and slipped it into his pocket.

"Okay, you can go..."

And he watched as Marcia Glass ran off through the maze of rubble and vanished from sight.

He shrugged.

"She could have said _Thanks,_ or even _Bye, Taylor_...," he said aloud.

Then he turned back to the road and began to hurry towards it, knowing he would have to go a long way down that road, at least until the bridge was in sight, before he could get a signal on his cell phone...

Taylor began to walk faster, and then he started to run, wishing he was so much _more_ cyborg than he was, because a titanium heart kept him alive, but it didn't help his human legs to run any faster - and he wanted to make that call as soon as he could, because Claw still had Penny and Emma...

* * *

_Bess wanted to cry._

She wanted to scream and shout and lock the door and grab hold of Gadget - even though she knew he could easily subdue her with cyborg strength - she just wanted to do something, anything that would make him stop and think and watch that simulation program one more time, the program had been running through her mind as he had got dressed, she had heard him say he needed her to go to his house and feed Brain for him, he had handed her the house keys and they had felt cold in her palm, and all the while, that program simulation, estimating the damage a second blast from Claw's device would cause, haunted her and refused to shift from her thoughts.

Gadget turned to the mirror and straightened his tie.

"I called the Chief. He said there were no new leads. The Gadget Mobile's outside and he's been activated for me. _I'm all set to go_."

He put on his trench coat, then his hat.

Then he turned to Bess and looked into her eyes. He saw heartbreak and pain reflected and wished there was something he could do about it, but he was Inspector Gadget and sometimes there was a crisis and when that happened, he was needed, to keep Riverton safe with disregard to his own safety - and this was another one of those times. He guessed even if Penny wasn't in danger and this had involved another criminal act by another law breaker, he would _still_ be doing this; going out there, risking exposure to danger before his connections were healed, simply because he was Inspector Gadget, and that was what he did – he took risks in the name of justice...

"I wish you didn't have to go," Bess said as she fought back tears.

Gadget looked into her eyes, studied her face and silently hoped if he didn't come back from this battle with Claw, at least he would remember the face of the woman he loved before the end came.

Then he leaned in and briefly kissed her.

"I'll be back real soon," he promised, managing a smile, "I wont be gone for long."

And then he walked out of the room and down the corridor, blinking as he held back his tears and focussed on the task in hand:

_He was back on duty and ready to take on the case._

_Claw had Penny and he needed to find her..._

* * *

Taylor Braydon was at the edge of the bridge.

Finally a signal had come up on his phone and he quickly called Riverton Police and asked for Quimby.

As the Chief answered, Taylor spoke at once:

"It's Taylor Braydon...I got away from Claw. But we need help! He has Penny and Emma and he said his machine is the biggest EMP device in the world! He wants to use it to kill cyborgs! He said if you come after him all he's got to do is push the button..."

"Slow down, Taylor," Quimby said, "Just tell me where you are."

"I'm on the phone!" Taylor replied, "How _else_ would we be speaking like this?"

There was a frustrated sigh from the Chief.

"No," he said, holding back the urge to yell, "I mean, where _are_ you?"

"I'm on the East side of the Riverton Bridge, Chief. I couldn't get a signal before..."

"Okay Taylor, you're doing fine. Just tell me, where is Claw holding Penny and your secretary?"

"The far end of the East Riverton industrial site – there's a big empty space were some buildings have been cleared, it looks like rubble and old foundations, its in the middle of the partly demolished sector. But it's underground, there's a platform and –"

"Thank you, Taylor. I want you to stay by the bridge until assistance arrives...just wait there, help is on the way."

"Thank you so much!" Taylor said, and ended the call, looking down the empty road that went across the bridge, hoping help would come really soon, because Emma and Penny were in danger, and so was every cyborg in the world until that machine was dismantled...

* * *

Gadget had just driven away from the cybernetics center.

"It's so good to have you back!" the Gadget Mobile said joyfully.

Gadget glanced down at the screen.

"I know you and Penny wanted to help, but this was _not_ the way to do it. What were you thinking, Gadget Mobile? Why did you go along with her plans like that? Now three people are kidnapped and one of them is Penny!"

"I was just trying to help you!" the car protested.

Gadget turned on to the highway and kept his gaze on the road.

"Well at least you told Quimby when things went wrong. And if Penny ever asks you to go off on some dangerous investigation without me again, say no!"

"Of course I will, G Man!" the car said sadly, "I didn't want any of this to happen - Penny said it was for the best, she wanted to help you –"

"Just don't do it again," Gadget replied, "I just want to find her and make sure she's okay."

"That makes two of us!" the Gadget Mobile agreed.

Then the phone rang.

"It's Quimby!" the car said urgently.

"Put him through," Gadget said.

"Gadget, I just heard from Taylor Braydon – he escaped from Claw. He said he's got a secret underground hideout on the old East Riverton industrial site."

He gripped the wheel tighter as the Chief's voice came through on the speaker.

"Is Penny okay?"

"He's got Penny and Emma held captive and listen – _be_ _careful_, Taylor said he's got a machine in that place, the biggest EMP device that's ever been created, and Claw can activate it in seconds. Taylor's waiting for you on the east side of the Riverton Bridge."

"I'm on my way, sir." He replied, and cut off the call.

Then Gadget looked down at the screen.

"Take me over to the East Riverton industrial site. And make it fast, turn out the rockets."

The car complied as powerful rocket boosters rose from the back of the Gadget Mobile and fired up.

Seconds later Inspector Gadget was racing towards the bridge that led to East Riverton, the car speeding like a blur.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The Gadget Mobile shot over Riverton Bridge in the blink of an eye and came to a sharp stop.

"Wow!" Taylor exclaimed, "You got here so fast!"

"Get in," Gadget said, and Taylor got in beside him.

The rockets folded out of sight and Gadget began to drive into the crumbling industrial zone.

"Is Penny okay?"

"Marcia shot her but –"

"_What?"_

Gadget looked at him in alarm, and Taylor quickly explained.

"She's okay – the bullet grazed her side, she tried to escape when I was on the platform with Marcia, but we were already leaving when Claw grabbed her."

Gadget manoeuvred the car around chunks of rubble and crumbled brickwork and looked back at Taylor in disbelief.

"Marcia Glass has run out on Claw? Where is she?"

Taylor smiled.

"Oh, don't worry about her. She promised me she'd never, _ever_ do anything wrong again, so I let her go."

_"You did what?"_

Taylor frowned on seeing the angry look on Gadget's face.

"But she was hurt, she said Claw beat her up, she said she was going to be good from now on if I gave her another chance-"

"_You let her go?"_

Gadget's eyes narrowed as he glared at Taylor.

"But I wanted to help; I thought I was doing the right thing-"

Gadget gave a sigh as he looked down at the screen.

"Gadget Mobile, get a message to Quimby – Marcia Glass is on the run heading away from East Riverton."

"I'm on to it, G Man!" the car replied.

As they drove, Gadget thought about all Taylor had told him.

"I don't think Claw beat her up," he said, and then he briefly smiled, adding, "You said Penny had got loose too? I think she's probably the reason Marcia was black and blue..."

Hurt reflected in Taylor's eyes.

"Marcia _lied_ to me?"

"Of course she did – she wanted her freedom back, Taylor!"

Then Gadget slowed the car to a halt as he looked around at the partly demolished buildings and the remains of old foundations.

"Is this the place?"

Taylor nodded, pointing at the middle of the foundations.

"That big crack that goes all the way around the center, it's not a crack in the concrete. It's the hidden platform, it works by remote control."

"Thanks," he replied, "I can take it from here."

And then he got out of the car and paused to lean on the door, looking down at the screen.

"GadgetMobile, I have to send you back over the bridge in case Claw activates that device again. Go straight back over the Riverton Bridge and wait on the other side, I don't want to put you at risk any more than I have to – and keep tracking me, if you lose my signal you know he's used the device. That's the time to send in Quimby's people if you don't hear from me first."

"Good luck, Gadget," the car said.

"What about me?" Taylor wondered.

"You're going with the Gadget Mobile," he told him, and then he saw the look of disappointment on his face, "You're my emergency back up," he added, hoping Taylor would believe that.

"Oh, okay... it;s just that I was hoping we could go in there together and rescue the girls –"

"No that's not the plan and I have to get to work. See you soon, Taylor."

"But I – _hey, wait up, car!_"

The Gadget Mobile ignored Taylor's protests, reversing, then turning around and speeding off towards Riverton Bridge.

* * *

Gadget waited until the car was out of sight, and then stood in the middle of the platform.

"Go go Gadget scanner," he said, and looked down at the ground, seeing the layout of what lie beneath his feet:

This was certainly an impressive place Claw had built, and the vast amount of electrical equipment that seemed to be amassed in an area close to the platform told him all he needed to know – _that second device was huge and if it was used, would have devastating consequences..._

Then he scanned the area that led to a corridor...there was a false wall panel, leading to a tunnel that snaked upwards... he continued to track the layout of the underground lair:

There was a long corridor, with rooms branching off it and one had a reinforced door.

"Go go Gadget thermal imaging," he said, and suddenly he could make out two people, locked in separate rooms down that corridor.

He turned, sweeping his vision back towards the main control. Somewhere beyond it, in a separate room was a third person. He guessed this had to be Claw.

Gadget paused, looking down at the ground as the grids that glowed at the back of his vision estimated materials used in the construction of the ceiling, then added up the depth of the rock...

He considered taking the escape tunnel, it would be a much longer route and he was aware that time was precious:

A hostage had just escaped and Marcia had fled and Penny had tried to make a break for freedom, too.

_Claw would not be in the best of moods._

He needed a fast way in, at the furthest point from the control room, far off in the tunnel system...

Gadget kept his eyes fixed on the view seen through the scanner as he half-stumbled over rubble, following the route of the tunnels beneath him.

That route took him halfway across the wide open space where the large foundations were all that remained of what had once been a factory.

He looked down at the ground closely, taking in the information that was being fed into a screen at the back of his eyes.

Then he blinked and the screens shut down.

Gadget stood up straight getting ready for the sudden weight that would emerge from the top of his hat.

"Go go Gadget drill!" he said.

And a small drill bit popped out from his finger tip and began to slowly revolve.

He gave a sigh, shaking his hand and making the gadget retract.

"No!" he said aloud, "Go go Gadget..._big, industrial sized drill!_"

And he struggled to keep his balance as something began to rise from his hat.

As the weight made him lean forward, the drill flipped him up into the air as handlebars sprouted out too.

"At least I've got something to hang on to!" Gadget exclaimed, grabbing at the handles as he looked down and saw how far up he was from the ground, and how wide and heavy that drill was...

Then the drill began to rotate.

"_Oh no!"_ Gadget said, hanging on as he shut his eyes tightly.

The drill began to spin as concrete and rock flew out on all sides, then it spun faster and faster, making Gadget dizzy as it bit through rock and earth and took him deeper as it drilled, spinning him around like a blur as the drill cut quickly into the ceiling of Claw's lair.

There was a shrill whirr as the super fast drill split the ceiling, then Gadget fell through into the tunnel, landing hard as the drill shrank back into his hat and vanished.

The lights in the tunnel flickered briefly, and Gadget got up, staggered as the corridor swam, then he leaned against a wall as he waited for the dizziness to wear off.

As the corridor stopped spinning, Gadget brushed dust from his hat and dirt from his trench coat and then took in a deep breath as he tried to recall the layout of this place; he had seen it as quite simple when he scanned it above ground, but all that spinning around while the drill was working had shaken him up and it took him a while to work out he wasn't too far away from where the first of the hostages were held captive.

Gadget made his way down the corridor, turning a corner and counting the doors that ran off it.

He went to the third one and glanced back down the long passageway; so far, there was no sign of Claw...

_"Go go Gadget skeleton key!"_ he whispered, and the key slid from his fingertip and into the lock, opening the door with ease.

He stepped inside and Emma looked up in surprise from where she sat tied up on the floor.

"Inspector Gadget?"

"That's right," he said in a low voice, "I'm here to get you out... hold still...Go go Gadget scissors.."

To his relief, his hand switched into a large, heavy pair of scissors that cut through her bonds in seconds.

He gave his hand a twist and the scissors disappeared from sight, then he pulled her to her feet.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded.

"But is Taylor all right?"

"He's fine; he's waiting for you across the other side of Riverton Bridge. I want you to get out of here and go and meet him, just get to Taylor and stay with him, Quimby and his officers are on their way."

"But how do I get out?" Emma asked him.

"Come with me."

Gadget grabbed her hand and paused at the door to check the coast was clear, and then he ran with her up the corridor and around the corner to where he had drilled his way in.

Emma looked up at the large hole where daylight shone through.

"I can't climb up there!"

"Yes you can," Gadget said, and took off his hat and placed it on the floor below the hole.

"Go go Gadget ladder!" he commanded, and a narrow metal ladder shot out from his hat, up to the ceiling and through the hole, all the way to the top.

Then Gadget stood at the bottom and held the ladder to keep it from slipping.

"Go." He said in a hushed voice.

As Emma began to climb, she glanced back at him.

"Thank you so much, Inspector."

"Just hurry," he replied," I don't have any time to lose."

Emma hurried up the ladder.

Gadget watched until she was at the top and had scrambled up into daylight, then he walked away, leaving the ladder in place as thought about his next move:

_Emma was safe. _

_Now he had to find Penny..._

* * *

The lights had held steady since the first initial flickering after Gadget had drilled into the Claw's underground hideout, but now as he walked along the corridor, the lights flickered again.

He looked up along the passageway, but saw no lights faltering beyond the center of it and hoped the flickering wouldn't be noticed so far off from main control.

Then he thought about the manual escape route and wondered why Claw had built it in - was it there in case the power failed? It seemed to make sense when the only other way out had been the platform...

He reached the reinforced door and guessed this had to be Claw's private room. Then he wondered why Claw would lock his niece in there and as anger rose up inside him, he pushed it back, trying to keep a clear head to ensure he had no glitcheswith hs gadgets, because getting worked up was a sure way to get a glitch, and that was the very last thing he needed to happen at a time like this...

He kept hismind clear as he placed his hand against the lock and whispered, _"Go go Gadget magnet."_

Power seemed to swirl through his fingertips and he let it gather strength, feeling as if his own bones were passing invisible through the lock and making contact.

He slid his fingers slowly back, hearing the locking mechanism also sliding, it was a slow and painstaking process, but he was getting there.

Then there was a soft click and he tried to let go, but his fingers were stuck to the door.

"Go go Gadget cancel!" he said under his breath, and the magnetic bond broke off, freeing his hand.

Gadget opened the door.

Tears of relief sprang to Penny's eyes.

She jumped up off the bed and ran to him, hugging him as she pressed her tearful face against his shoulder.

"I was so scared...and I'm _so_ sorry!" she said as she looked up at him,"I didn't mean to cause all this trouble, I was just trying to help you!"

Gadget looked at his niece with understanding in his eyes; she had been the same since she was a kid, and although she had grown up long ago, Penny still wanted to help and he understood why, he knew what a terrible time she had been through after seeing what Claw's new weapon had done to him, of course she had wanted to help, like the Gadget Mobile had said, Penny had wanted to keep him safe...

"Its okay, I'm not mad at you," he told her, "but I _do _want you out of here, I want you to go back down that corridor, there's a ladder, I want you to go up it and get back to the surface...Taylor and Emma are safe, I want you out of here too. Leave Claw to me."

Penny's eyes filled with tears again.

"I can't leave you!"

Gadget looked into her eyes.

"I'm not asking you, I'm _telling_ you, Penny. Get out of here; it's _my_ job to handle Claw."

Penny gave him another hug, but Gadget let go and stepped back.

"Get out of here, Penny," he said again, "Please, do it for me – get back to the surface and let me deal with Claw."

She nodded.

"I'll do it for you," she said, "be careful, Uncle Gadget."

"Don't worry about me," he replied, "I can handle this."

Penny and turned and began to walk down the corridor. She paused halfway up and looked back.

"Hurry up!" Gadget said in a low voice, and then she turned away again and began to walk faster, and Gadget watched until she had turned the corner and was out of sight.

Then he breathed a relieved sigh:

_Penny was safe at last._

But as he set his sights on the long, bright passageway that led to the control area, a sense of dread began to grow deep inside him.

The more he thought about the situation, the more harsh his understanding of the outcome started to be:

_There could be no easy way out of this situation._

_There could be no happy ending. _

Claw had two devices, one capable of short range damage, and the other - if used - was capable of widespread devastation.

And as soon as his old enemy knew he had broken in and the hostages were gone, Claw would know he had lost - and he would _not_ lose with good grace.

Gadget knew one of those machines would be activated, unless he could physically stop him.

Claw wouldn't go down without a fight and if he could drag others down with him, he would certainly try for it...

Gadget walked down the corridor, with every step he took closer to the control room, he felt as if he was stepping closer to the moment when his own life would end. He remembered the shields were on. Those shields would keep him alive, even if the rest of his body was crippled by a second blast, at least, this was what was expected to happen. He didn't know for sure if the shield system would be enough to save his life, then he wondered what his life would be like after a second blast from that devcie and decided either way, the outcome would be bad, and then he tried not to think too much on that fact as he neared the end of the corridor.

Gadget fixed his sights on the doorway to the control center and he thought about the devastation Claw's second, larger device would cause if it was set off. He knew he couldn't let that happen, and if he had to make a sacrifice in order to save many more lives, that was the way it would have to be...

Gadget thought of Penny, and then he remembered the face of Bess Nightingale, the woman he loved.

_Then he stepped into the control room, ready to face the enemy._

* * *

Penny stood at the bottom of the ladder, looked back down the corridor and wiped a tear from her cheek.

Then she looked up again and sunlight bathed her face.

She thought of how her Uncle had asked her to leave; of course he would, he wanted to keep her safe.

_But hadn't this whole mess started because she had tried to protect him?_

She knew he would still have come here to find Emma, he would have been on Claw's trail no matter who had been involved, and although the blame for all of this rested with Claw, she still felt the weight of her own guilt as she wondered what would happen if she left him alone here – would her Uncle Gadget ever come back?

She couldn't be sure that staying around to help him would make matters any better either; the pain in her side was fading now and she could put up a fight if she had to, but what if Gadget didn't need her at all, what if going back to look for him simply meant she was getting in the way?

She slid the ladder up tight against the wall and looked up again.

Penny had shifted it to keep it steady and had pulled it back a little, leaving a gap near the top of the hole, but once she was up there she knew she could easily reach up to pull herself out.

It seemed so easy to walk away, yet so difficult as she felt like her heart was being torn in two different directions.

She stepped on to the ladder and started to climb.

Then she stopped, looked up at daylight, and then looked back down in to the corridor.

"I can't do this!" Penny said quietly, "I can't leave him alone here!"

And she stepped off the ladder, waiting and listening, yet hearing no sound carry to suggest any kind of a fight had yet begun.

Penny decided to wait, she made her way carefully to the corner where the corridor turned into the long stretch that led to the control room, and she waited there, ready to run to her Uncle's side as soon as she heard the first sign of the start of trouble...

* * *

Claw was in his office at the end of the other corridor, this passageway was smaller, but here was the place he had decided to use as an office, and he had been locked away in there for more than an hour, not working on his plans, just looking at old pictures and recalling memories that hurt so deeply, even after all these years, that it felt as if the past had the power to turn his heart into a pin cushion, and keep on stabbing at it with needles of grief that would ever drive sharp and deep.

He turned his gaze from the picture of his dead son to the silver pincer that was attached to his own wrist and he wondered, what would his child have made of that?

_Maybe, his son would have accepted it._

_Or perhaps he would have been terrified._

_He knew for sure Agnes would have been shocked, would have turned away..._

Claw looked back to an old image of himself before he had crossed the line and become the criminal known as Claw.

He wondered what had become of Sanford Scolex, but then he shook his head, banishing pointless thoughts of regret.

His life had taken a wrong turn long ago, from the day he broke into a lab to steal some research and fired a shot at scientist.

That shot had been fatal, although he had not known it at the time, taken over by madness as he felt reality sliding out of control as he tossed his cigar into a pool of gasoline and blew up a security guard's car.

_John Brown had survived to become Inspector Gadget._

It seemed to make sense the two of them would always be mortal enemies and perhaps, eventually they would destroy each other, Claw knew it wasn't impossible...

Then he cast aside concerns about his own demise and thought instead about his plans involving the cybernetics industry, and he took some pictures out of the photograph album, slipping them in to the inner pocket of his jacket, just so he could keep the past close to his heart while he planned his next move, to make a call to Taylor Braydon and remind him he wanted Braydon Industries handed over before the time ran out, because as long as he had Emma, he could make that demand...

As he entered the control room, the past held within the old photos inside the silk lined pocket of his jacket seemed to be keeping those he had lost close to his heart, even though the past was gone and all he had left were paper memories, it was better than nothing at all, it would keep him company as he struggled to gain the power he had so carefully set out to steal...

Claw walked slowly past the array of brightly lit controls, and thought about how much work had gone into this fine piece of machinery. All it would take would be an activation code, and this electrical masterpiece would deliver a huge blast that would invisibly, silently, kill off half the cyborg population...

"I'm looking at pure power," he murmured, "it's all around me..."

"_And you'll never get to use it!"_

Claw turned sharply, staring at Inspector Gadget.

"How the devil did you get in here?" he demanded angrily.

"Taylor Braydon got out and called Quimby. The cops are ready to move in on you, Claw. It's over."

Gadget saw a flash of panic in Claw's eyes as he slowly shook his head.

"No, its _not _over..."

And then Claw looked back at the machine, then to Gadget, and laughed maniacally.

"It's not over until I _say_ it's over!" he raged, "I could destroy half the cyborg population with this machine, take a look at it, Gadget! _Think _about it – all I have to do is put in a code and it's the end of you and many more like you, its the biggest EMP device ever built!"

And Claw stepped behind the control panel, placing his human hand on a keyboard as he looked up at Gadget with triumph in his eyes.

"Of course, you'll try and stop me," Claw added as he thought of past battles and began to break out in a sweat, "But I have a gun and a few shots might punch a few holes in your metal and maybe your flesh too...and I don't doubt you could come back at me with the same and no doubt you would, this is your chance to finish me off once and for all! _I dare you to try!_"

Claw's hand was shaking.

His fingers were resting on a keypad, ready to set a four digit sequence that he would manage to input in his last moments if that was what it took to have the final say, to die with the words _I win_ uttered in his final breath...

Claw began to laugh again.

"It's funny how these things start, isn't it? I commit a crime, you try to stop me and I blow up your car and you crush my hand with a bowling ball. Then you and I become mortal enemies...its got to end somewhere, Gadget...it's best it ends now, one quick blast from me and it's over for you_...and_ the rest of the cyborg population...unless you do as I say! I want Braydon Industries transferred to my name! I want Quimby's men to back off and allow me safe passage away from Riverton! If my demands are not met, I'll set this device off, and many people will suffer, Gadget – people like you, cyborgs...and some of them will die. So what's it going to be?"

Gadget looked at Claw.

He thought about switching to weapon mode and pulling a gun on him, but it was too much of chance to take. Even a less harmful gadget like a net or a blast of oil would temporarily slow him down, but it wouldn't stop him from activating that machine...

Nothing would stop him from having the final say now he knew the odds were against him.

Gadget spoke up again, knowing what he would say would only push Claw further into desperation.

"Penny's gone, I got her out. Emma's gone too. You've lost your last hope, Claw. You can kill me of you want to, but that machine you've built won't harm the officers waiting on the other side of the Riverton Bridge, they're _not_ cyborgs –and you won't get out of East Riverton. Give yourself up now while you still can, before you make things worse."

The blood drained from Claw's face.

"No..." he said, as he slowly shook his head, "No... it's not possible..."

And then rage burned in his eyes as he glared at Gadget.

"_I'll get you for this; I'll destroy you, Inspector Gadget!"_

And this time, as Claw's familiar threat echoed around the room, Gadget blinked away tears, knowing exactly how true his words had been – _as long as the machine functioned, the threat existed to the cyborg population of the world..._

Gadget looked back at Claw, thankful he was in the middle of the room, at a distance so Claw would not have the satisfaction of knowing he was about to weep.

"I know you'll destroy me," he said quietly, "I knew it from the time you first used the device! I remember how it tore me apart. I never want to see that box again, that pyramid-shaped box...I still have nightmares about what happened, I think I always will..."

A flicker of a smile played about Claw's lips as he drew the smaller EMP device from his pocket. He flipped open the pyramid-shaped lid and held it out in the palm of his hand.

"_This_ device, Gadget?"

"Please don't use it..." Gadget whispered as he fell to his knees in the middle of the room.

He looked down at the ground as Claw remained behind the vast array of machinery while he held the small device in the palm of his hand. As Claw spoke again, Gadget closed his eyes, his heart breaking as he thought of home and Penny and Bess, he could see her face clearly in his mind, this was what the end felt like and he didn't want his life to come to this, but there was no other way and he had no choice...

"Get ready to die, Inspector Gadget!" Claw said angrily, as he glared at Gadget and thought of how this man had yet again ruined his plans.

"After I've killed you, I'll speak with the police, I'll make my demands...they'll have to give into me, they'll have no choice, I still have my machine..."

"Its always about revenge for you, isn't it Claw?" Gadget said, and as he looked up Claw saw his face was streaked with tears.

"Go ahead," Gadget told him, "do your worst. I know I can't win this time..."

And Gadget thought of Bess and as he held on to the memory of her and how much he loved her, more tears ran down his face.

"You think you've won," he said to Claw, "but you'll never win, you'll _always_ lose!"

"I disagree," Claw said darkly, and lowered his pincer on to the small, hand held device, activating the weapon for a second time.

_The shields worked. _

Gadget felt no tearing at his insides, his heart and other organs felt no pain, even though something like a shock wave passed through him, and it felt like being caught in a sudden flood of water, then he fell forward, landing hard on the concrete floor.

Gadget took in a breath, and then another, waiting for something to pop behind his eyes –but it didn't happen.

His eyes were closed, he breathed again.

The third breath confirmed to him that the shields had worked:

_Yes, he was still alive..._

He heard Claw give a shout of rage.

"_NO!"_ he yelled, _"No, no, not my machine!"_

And Gadget opened his eyes, not at all alarmed by the pitch blackness that had covered the room.

He started to smile even though he was vaguely aware of creeping pains flickering in his body, the pain was spreading like a burning ache and he remembered the simulation program and guessed that Bess had been right - he had taken some terrible damage. It would probably wreck a great deal of his human to cyborg connections. He understood that clearly because all the places where he had not been fully healed after the repair work burned, and he wanted to cry out but instead he took another breath and felt thankful to be alive.

"_BASTARD!" _Claw yelled.

Gadget ignored the pain as he lay face down on the floor and weakly laughed.

"You did it," he said breathlessly as he fought a wave of pain that cut through him, "you set off the small device...you killed _all_ the power..._including the power to your other machine! _You've got nothing left, you're finished Claw, it's over..."

Then he heard Gadget take in more difficult breaths in the darkness, and then Claw angrily cursed as he punched the now-dead machinery with his human hand, while his pincer hung inactive at his side, its electrical function now dead, just like every other electrical function in his lair.

He ran his fist into the machinery several times as he sobbed with rage to think that Gadget had tricked him in to using the small device to kill the larger one – he hadn't even cared about his own safety, he had sacrificed everything just to see him defeated, and it was more than Claw could take.

He smashed his fist into the control panel again, only stopping as he felt pain and blood ran warm and wet down his knuckles.

* * *

Gadget could hear Claw smashing the machinery.

He cautiously tried to move, slowly rolling over as he realized his left arm was paralyzed, but he still had movement in his right, although even in his functioning arm pains flickered, like a fire that threatened to start burning up all over again.

Small pains stabbed at his hips, his legs, he felt weak, he hurt all over and every time he remembered the warning Bess had given him, he recalled the simulation of his inner wiring with cybernetic connections left looking like burnt out matches...

Then someone was at his side.

"_It's okay,"_ she whispered in his ear, _"I waited for you, I ran when the lights went out, I came to find you..."_

"Penny, get out of here!" he said quietly, "Just go, I want you to be safe!"

She leaned close to his ear again, whispering, her voice undetected by Claw as he began to kick at the false panel that led to the escape tunnel.

"_Gadget Mobile would have lost your signal when Claw set off the device...don't worry, Quimby will guess what's happened, help is on the way...I won't be gone long. Just hold on, Uncle Gadget. I love you."_

And she kissed his cheek and then she was gone.

* * *

Gadget lay in the dark on the floor of the control room as pain burned into his human to cyborg connections.

He tried not to think about how much damage he had taken, but he knew it was bad and after this, life would never be the same again. More tears ran from his eyes as he fought the pain and hoped help would come quickly.

Gadget took in a deep breath and tried to ignore the pain, but it was impossible because it was flickering all over his body, burning and then the burning would stop and instead the pain would stab at him, he was sweating heavily and breathing harder as he tried not to think too deeply about the damage the blast had caused his body:

_Bess had been right about everything; the shield had protected his vital organs, it had kept him alive – but everything else, every point in his body where wire met tissue and had still been healing, was now badly damaged..._

"Hurry up, Penny..." he said, as he drew in another breath and wondered how long he would be left on the floor in the darkened room.

* * *

Claw kicked and kicked at the hidden panel.

As it finally caved in, he gave an exhausted sigh as he looked inside, and saw a dim shaft of light where the tunnel led up to the surface.

He glanced over his shoulder knowing Gadget, dreadfully injured from the EMP blast, was no doubt dying quietly on the floor...

"This is goodbye, Gadget," he called out, "You wrecked my plans but I got you in the end...and I'm _still_ a free man! I've got a helicopter hidden in the ruins, I'm flying away from here and Quimby's men will _not_ be able to stop me!"

Claw was smiling as he looked into the tunnel where daylight dimly filtered through.

"At least I beat Gadget!" he said smugly.

Then the smile faded from his face as he felt someone shift up close beside him.

Claw slowly turned his head, to be confronted with the shadowy sight of Penny, her eyes blazing with hatred at she glared at him.

_"Hi,"_ she said in a low voice, and smashed her fist into his face, knocking him out cold.

* * *

Gadget blinked and became aware of a faint shaft of light filtering into the room.

He pulled himself up, recalled there was an escape tunnel and reached for the dead control panel close by and used it to lean on as he pulled himself to his feet.

As he stood upright, he knew he felt unsteady, he was sweating and shaking too and he felt sure he could count every single burnt out or cracked connection in his body because the pains were all over, his arm was still useless too, but at least he could still walk...

He stepped inside the tunnel, and then looked down as he noticed something catching on the weak light, making it shimmer ghostly:

_It was Claw's pincer._

Gadget thought about it and put the pieces together fast:

Penny had gone after Claw, no doubt she had attacked him in the dark, now he was gone and so was she, and she had torn off his metal pincer, too...

Gadget leaned heavily on the wall of the tunnel, and then as he began to hurry along it, trying to ignore the pain and weakness that was taking over his body once more. He headed for the surface as fast as he could, knowing Penny was blazing with fury and that rage had been building since Claw had first attacked, and now she had him, she had Claw captive – and Penny in a mood like that, was capable of anything:

_He knew he had to stop her_.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Taylor Braydon had been leaning back in the driver's seat of the Gadget Mobile.

As tiredness crept over him he had closed his eyes and suddenly, as the water flowed gently beneath the Riverton Bridge, he had dozed off into a light sleep:

Taylor dreamed of walking up to a convertible that was parked outside the Braydon mansion.

He smiled as he took in way the _lovely_ mint green shade looked so... _minty and fresh!_

"Hi," he said as he got into the car and ran his hand over the matching mint green upholstery.

"Hi there, Taylor," purred a female voice.

Then a screen lit up and a computer generated image of a curvy android woman appeared, and the car spoke again:

"Do you want to ask me now, or later?"

Taylor's eyes shone with excitement as he ran his hands over the steering wheel and then gripped it lightly.

"Let's do it now!" he said excitedly,"Tell me, tell me, talking car, who is the _handsomest_ guy by far?"

And the car replied:

_"You are, Taylor, you are!"_

And then someone was shaking him.

Taylor fought against leaving the dream, pushing away the hands that roughly shook at his shoulders.

"No, no...I want it...it's so very..."

He opened his eyes.

"Lovely and..._minty_..._mint green!_"

Then he stared into the eyes of a bewildered Chief Quimby.

"_Mint green?"_ he repeated, "_Lovely?_"

Taylor got out of the car, still feeling slightly disconnected from the real world as the shades of mint green rested so fresh and... _green_ in his mind.

Then he saw the cops cars speeding past with sirens wailing and recalled all that had happened.

"What's going on? Where's Gadget?"

The Chief started up the engine.

"I lost Gadget's signal!" the car said urgently, "That means he needs back up, Claw's used the device again!"

"Let me come with you!" Taylor begged.

The Chief looked at him sharply as more cars sailed past with sirens screeching.

"Sorry Taylor, you're a civilian. The answer is _No_."

And then he took off at top speed, following his officers into the industrial zone.

"_Taylor!"_

As the last of the cop cars sped off, Emma hurried down the slope towards the bridge.

Taylor ran to her and put his arms around her, thankful that at least the woman he loved was safe, even if he didn't know what had happened to Gadget...

"Are you okay?"

She nodded.

"Inspector Gadget got me out. I don't know about Penny, I don't know what happened after I left, I just did what he told me to – I kept on running until I reached you. Why are the cops moving in?"

Taylor looked back towards the industrial zone as worry clouded his eyes and he thought of his friend.

"The Gadget Mobile lost his signal. Apparently that means Claw hit him with another blast. I hope he's okay...his shields can't save everything..."

And then he said no more as he stood by the bridge with his arms around Emma as he watched the crumbling industrial zone for signs of life, saying a silent prayer that Gadget would make it out of there alive...

* * *

As the cop cars screeched to a halt by the old foundations, Quimby stopped the Gadget Mobile and got out.

He looked around and saw, far across the way, a hole had been drilled into the ground.

"I think we've found our way in!" he yelled, and beckoned to his officers to follow him.

"I'll take a drive around and check out the area!" the Gadget Mobile called out, but Quimby and his men were gathering around the hole now, Quimby taking the lead with a gun in his hand as he began to climb the ladder that led into Claw's lair.

"I guess I'll just go off and do my own thing!" the car said aloud and drove away from the foundations, around a nearby, ruined factory and then stopped sharply.

"Penny!" the car yelled, "Are you okay? And _what_ have you done?"

"Call it a citizens arrest," she said, dragging Claw behind her. He was unconscious and had deep bruising to his face.

"Wow, you really slugged the guy!" the car exclaimed.

Penny was breathless from the effort of dragging him, but rage and the need for revenge had been helpful in lending her the extra strength she needed...

"Shall I call Quimby on my radio?" the Gadget Mobile asked her.

"No," Penny said in a low voice, letting go of Claw as he fell like a dead weight onto the dusty ground, "I've got something to do..."

And she opened the trunk of the Gadget Mobile and took out a length of rope.

"You don't have to tie him up, just call Quimby!" the car said.

Penny looked up and her eyes were blazing.

"_Not yet."_

She tied the rope to the car's bumper, and then wrapped the other end around Claw's neck.

Then she paused, thinking about it:

"I know how to tie a _lot _of knots," she said aloud, _"but I don't believe I ever learned how to make a noose..."_

And as she worked the slip knot, Claw felt something tighten about his throat and his eyes snapped open. He looked up to see Penny was leaning over him, and her eyes looked empty and cold.

"This is for everything you ever did to my Uncle Gadget," she said darkly, "I'm getting in the car and I'm going to drive all the way up to the bridge... _top speed, with the rockets out._.."

Claw drew in a frightened breath, raising both arms as his head throbbed and he weakly struggled, failing to free himself from the rope as his fingers grabbed at it, then he gave a startled cry as he saw his pincer was gone, leaving nothing but broken wiring at the end of his wrist.

_"No, please...I'm begging you!"_ he yelled, but Penny got up and walked around the driver's side and got into the car.

"No Penny!" the Gadget Mobile said, "This is murder! Don't make yourself like him, _think_ about it!"

"I've thought about nothing but Claw since the day he destroyed my Uncle John's body," she said in a hushed voice, "and then he tried to destroy his Gadget body too...I can't let him live, he'll do it again!"

"_Penny, stop!"_

She reached for the cable beneath the screen and gave it a tug. As the screen went dark, Penny keyed in the manual command, over riding the car's independent personality.

"_Get ready to die!"_ She said bitterly as she started the engine, _"This is too good for you, Claw, it's too quick, you son of a bitch!"_

The engine was roaring. She turned out the rockets. Claw was desperately trying to grab at the rope around his neck.

"_PENNY!"_

As she heard her Uncle shout her name she turned her head, and saw him leaning against the broken doorway of the ruined factory, where the escape tunnel ended.

Gadget was sweating and shaking and clutching at his useless arm as he looked at her pleadingly.

"_Don't do it!"_

Tears blinded her as she listed to the roar of the engine:

_All it would take was a split second._

_Accelerate and Claw's neck would snap like a twig._

_It would be instant, rather like the way Claw had blown her Uncle's car up so long ago._

_It was no more than he deserved..._

She heard Gadget call her name again, and as she looked back he staggered towards the car, still clutching at his arm.

"Penny, don't do this!" he begged her, "You're better than him! Don't do this, please..."

And then pain ran through his body and he caught his breath, struggling to stay on his feet as he leaned against the door of the Gadget Mobile.

"Please, Penny, _don't_ kill him..."

She looked up at her Uncle and as Gadget reached out, he put his hand on her face, brushing away her tears.

Then he leaned harder against the door, reaching into the car and as Penny sobbed, he switched off the engine and took the keys from the ignition.

"I know you hate him," He said to her, "But this is _not_ the way! Get out of the car and get that rope off his neck before the cops find out what you almost did!"

Penny got out of the car and wiped her eyes.

Gadget sank wearily into the drivers seat of the Gadget Mobile and plugged in the screen and turned the car's personality back on.

"Hey Gadget!" the car exclaimed, "I'm so glad to see you - I think Penny's gone crazy, you have to stop her!"

And as Penny leaned down to take the rope from Claw's neck, Gadget heard her speak:

"My Uncle's right," she said, her voice still tearful,"I'm not evil. I'm not like you. But you're only alive because he stopped me!"

"It's over," Gadget replied, and as Quimby and a team of cops hurried from the escape tunnel, after having searched the lair and found it empty, Penny waved to them and pointed down at Claw, who was still on the ground.

"We've got him!" she called out, and kicked the rope aside as cops came running to make an arrest.

The computerised face on the screen looked up at Gadget.

"Are you okay, G Man? I realise you lost your hat down there and you got into a bit of a fight, but you don't look so good."

"I didn't exactly get into a fight," Gadget said, gripping at his weak arm as he shivered and more sweat ran down his face, "he set the device off. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine..."

Quimby's men were cuffing Claw's undamaged hand and preparing to lead him away.

The Chief had caught Gadget's words and looked at him with concern in his eyes.

"Which device?" he said in a low voice.

"The smaller one, sir. I tricked him into setting it off to burn out the larger device..." Gadget shivered as sweat ran down his face and he clutched at his arm again, "I stopped him, Claw's no threat to anyone now..."

And the Chief looked intently at Gadget as his words sunk in:

_Gadget had deliberately tricked Claw into setting off the smaller device?_

As Claw was led away to a waiting police car, he looked back at Gadget.

"I'll get you –"

"Next time?" Gadget replied, his voice trembling as he fought against the pain that flickered around his body, "There is _no_ next time, Claw. You're going back to jail!"

And then Gadget rested heavily against the car seat and looked at the Chief with a flicker of fear in his eyes.

"Sir, I think I may need some time off –"

"You need to get straight over to the cybernetics center," Quimby said, and as Gadget heard the quiet concern in his voice, his own anxiety began to grow:

_This was bad and he knew it, he could still recall the simulation showing what would happen to his body with exposure to the device...his wiring looking like burnt out matches..._

"I think you're right," he said as he reached for the wheel and then realized he wasn't even in a fit state to drive the Gadget Mobile.

Penny got in the car and glanced at the Chief.

"I'll go with him," she said, and Quimby nodded, then he turned away, walking back to a waiting squad car as he fixed his thoughts on ensuring Claw was safely back behind bars, after he had been charged with every offence he had committed since his escape, it was a lot to think about – but he wanted to focus on his job and the task in hand because one look at Inspector Gadget had confirmed his worst fears – Gadget had taken some terrible damage from the second exposure to Claw's device, and that was something he didn't want to shed tears over, at least, not while he was on duty...

* * *

Gadget was leaning back against the driver's seat of the Gadget Mobile and as he trembled and caught his breath as pain shot through cracked and scorched wiring, Penny looked at him tearfully.

"You tricked Claw into destroying the machine by using the smaller device? Are you crazy? You're hurt, Uncle Gadget, you're hurt badly!"

Gadget closed his eyes and shivered as he clutched at his useless arm and more pain burned into his flesh where wiring met with human tissue.

"I had to do it Penny, there was no other way."

And then he looked at her, and it came as a shock to see such distress in the eyes of his niece.

"Don't you know what you've done to yourself?"

"I'm starting to think maybe this is serious," he said, trying to push away waves of panic that were hitting him as he wondered how bad the damage was, "I just want to get to the lab and see Bess."

"I'll drive!" the car insisted, and then Taylor Braydon shouted Gadget's name, and as he looked up he saw him hurry across the ruins with Emma.

"Wait for me!" Taylor said as he reached the car, "I missed it, I missed the action! Quimby wouldn't let me through, but he just tore off back down the bridge with a fleet of cop cars and one of them had Claw inside it!"

"He's back behind bars," Gadget said weakly, "like I said to the Chief, it's over now."

And then Taylor blinked, looking at Gadget as it dawned on him that he looked terrible.

"He set the device off? "

Gadget nodded.

"I don't know how bad it is, but I'm sure Bess can fix me up."

Taylor got into the back of the car and Emma got in beside him. She looked at Gadget and then back at Taylor, he saw deep concern in her eyes and as she was about to speak, Taylor just shook his head, knowing it was best not to discuss this in front of Gadget; this was what he had warned him about, this was the worst case scenario happening – Gadget had suffered terrible damage, and the confirmation of that was better coming from Bess...

"Okay Gadget Mobile," Gadget said as he tried to get comfortable, "take us over to the lab."

"I think it's the best place for you right now," the car replied, and began to drive out of the industrial zone.

* * *

As they drove away, Penny kept an anxious watch on her Uncle.

"How bad is the pain?" she asked him.

Gadget heard an unmistakeable trace of anxiety in her voice, and tried to calm her fears.

"It's not too bad, Penny."

He leaned harder against the seat and drew in a shaky breath as he tried to focus on anything but the pain from the damaged wiring.

"And Claw's back behind bars, that machine he made is destroyed and the threat is gone. That's _all_ that matters, I solved the case..."

It made him want to cry as he saw Penny still had tears in her eyes, but he held it back and managed a smile as more pain shot through his damaged body.

"Quimby's going to be so pleased with me. I bet he'll give me another medal for this..."

And then weakness came over him and he fought against it.

"It's okay, Penny," he said to her, and reached out a shaking hand, feeling thankful that his niece took hold of it tightly, "like I said, it's over now."

Penny nodded, but said nothing as she held on to her Uncle's hand and the car sped towards the cybernetics center, she kept her fears to herself because her Uncle looked terrible and she didn't want to frighten him, but one look at him was enough to see he had taken some serious damage.

She thought about what he had said - that it was over - and her heart ached:

_It wasn't over._ Her Uncle Gadget had suffered terrible damage, and she didn't know if he could ever recover. She had seen him get into some fights over the years and need metal work, some minor parts replacing. But this was different; he looked as if the device had shattered him all over again...

* * *

_Bess had just arrived back at the cybernetics center when the call came through. _

She had been over to Gadget's house to feed Brain just like she'd promised, and on returning, as Brenda Bradford put the phone down, she caught a look in her eyes that filled her with dread.

"Please tell me that was just the hotel reminding you that you left some luggage behind?" Bess said to her.

Brenda, who was still exhausted from the journey back to Riverton after cutting short her vacation, took in a deep breath and then explained the bad news:

"That was Quimby. He said Gadget nailed Claw and now Claw's back behind bars. _But Claw set off the smaller device. Gadget was hit. I'm so sorry, Bess. We knew he wasn't fully healed and he wasn't ready for this. He's sustained catastrophic damage; it's the worst case scenario. _Are you sure you can handle this? I'll understand if you need to step away, if you need to be here purely as his partner instead of his doctor."

Bess slowly shook her head.

"No, I can cope with this," she replied,"I have to, he needs me."

Brenda looked at her colleague and saw nothing in the eyes of Bess Nightingale but strength and determination to face what lie ahead.

"He's on his way over here," she told her, "as soon as he arrives we need to get him in the lab, give him a whole body scan and see what we can save and what needs replacing immediately. We have to look for -"

"Burn outs in deep tissue, I know all this," Bess replied, "we have to check for any deep damage that might have affected major areas of function."

"I'll get the lab ready," Brenda replied, "and then I'll get a room set up for a high dependency patient."

Bess felt as if her heart was breaking but she stayed strong, remembering she had the skill to help the man she loved, and that was what she intended to do – falling apart would solve nothing...

"And I'll go and wait for Gadget to arrive," she said, and walked quickly from the room, feeling as if every dream, every hope she had held in her heart for the kind of future she had expected to look forward to had just been torn to shreds, because after suffering such deep and permanent damage, Gadget's life would never be the same again...

* * *

The Gadget Mobile came to a sharp stop outside the cybernetics center and as the others got out of the car with ease Gadget struggled until he felt an arm around his shoulder and saw Taylor Braydon standing beside him.

"Don't worry, Gadget," he said kindly, "I'm sure Bess and Brenda will be able to fix you up good as new. Come on, let's walk slowly."

Gadget managed a weak laugh as they reached the steps.

"I wasn't planning on running," he said, "I can barely stand up."

And he leaned heavily against Taylor, who supported him and helped him to climb the steps.

"That's right,"Taylor said kindly, "we're almost there now, just lean against me, I can take it..."

"Thanks," Gadget said quietly, feeling grateful for Taylor's strength at a time when he had none of his own left.

Taylor pushed open the door and led him into the building and Penny followed with Emma.

Bess ran over, trying to hide the look of alarm in her eyes as she saw Gadget, leaning against Taylor as he shook and trembled. His face was pale and his hair was damp with sweat. He was having trouble standing upright and only one of his arms was functioning, he clutched at the other to keep it tight at his side.

"I told you I'd be back soon," Gadget said, and managed a smile even though she saw deep pain in his eyes.

Bess stepped forward, embraced him and Gadget managed to briefly rest his head on her shoulder, then his balance faltered and Bess pushed aside her own emotions and remembered her training.

"Let's get you straight up to the lab," she said, leading Gadget over to an elevator, "we need to get you scanned to see how widespread the damage is, then we can figure out what to do about it."

The doors opened and Taylor helped Gadget inside.

The others followed and the doors closed, then as the elevator began to ascend, Gadget leaned harder against Taylor and gave a weak cry of pain.

"I think this is bad," he said, nervously looking to Bess as he wished she could cancel out his fears, but on seeing the look in her eyes, he knew she loved him too much to give him anything less than the truth.

"It _is_ bad," she said softly, "but I'll do all I can and so will Brenda. And when you're well enough to go home, I'll continue to do my very best for you always, so don't be afraid."

Tears filled Gadget's eyes.

"_But I am afraid,"_ he whispered, and the doors opened and he leaned heavily on Taylor as they made their way to the lab.

When Gadget had entered the lab, Penny had seen fear in his eyes and it made her heart ache because she wanted to hold on to him and cry and promise him that everything would be okay, just as she had done so long ago when he had first acquired his cyborg body. She had asked to stay with him, but Bess had told her to wait outside with Taylor and Emma while they prepared him for the scan. And so she waited and silently worried, knowing the outcome was not going to be a good one...

* * *

As Gadget lay back on the bed, aching all over while his clothing was being removed, he took his mind off the pain with a thought that crossed his mind that made him smile.

"Two women, undressing a cyborg in a cybernetics lab...sounds like the opening scene to a robofetish porno!"

Bess had stripped off his shirt and was now unbuckling his belt.

"Just keep still, Gadget," she said, "once you've had the scan we can figure out what the is damage is like."

And Gadget wanted to snatch her hand and pull her closer and let his tears flow as he told her how afraid he was, but instead he lay back and closed his eyes as the heavy scanning equipment was brought out and unfolded overhead. There was a bright light that turned the darkness of his closed eyelids a shade of orange, and as Bess and Brenda studied the results, he stayed silent, waiting for the light to go off.

While his eyes were closed, above the hum of the machine, he heard the two women talking.

"This is what we expected," Brenda said quietly, "its widespread..."

And Bess caught her breath.

"Are you sure you want to continue, Dr Nightingale?" she asked her.

When Bess replied, her voice sounded strained.

"Yes, I'm fine. I can do this..."

A machine was printing off an image of the scan result.

The light went out and he heard the scanner being shifted back.

Gadget opened his eyes.

"So how bad is it?"

And he shifted slightly as a pain stabbed at his inner thigh.

"Exactly as the simulation predicted," Brenda said, "You have many connections that run from cyborg parts into human tissue and nerves. These wires have been either cracked, fried or both. Some of it is partial damage that will get progressively worse as time passes. We can't remove a wire until it's dead because to move a live wire out of damaged tissue could cause more harm than good. So each individual wire has to die off before we can remove it and replace with a longer, thinner wire that will, if you're lucky, still make contact with live nerves. It's most likely that replacement surgery will only have partial success."

Bess pushed a button and the top of the bed raised a little, easing Gadget into a sitting position as he leaned against large pillows to cushion his back.

Now he was in the lab and had heard the news, it still seemed a frightening prospect, but understanding it made it that little bit easier to deal with, because at least he didn't have to wonder what was going on inside him any more.

"So this can be fixed? _Please_ tell me it can be fixed, Brenda!"

Gadget was worried and scared and hurting and Brenda wished she could give him good news, something to hope for – but she could only tell him the situation as it currently stood:

"The wiring damage is widespread, Gadget. You could go for six months and have one wire replaced and then find yet another one fails. This is an ongoing situation. Some of the damage could take days for the affected connections to fail; others could take years to die off. You will have times when you feel okay, and that will be broken by intermittent periods of disability, the severity of it will depend on which section of wiring is currently failing. It's a long and slow process."

Gadget looked into her eyes. His voice was unsteady as he spoke again.

"_How long will this take?"_

Brenda looked down at the floor, then over at the scan result that Bess had illuminated on the wall, where she saw so many damaged wires that went into equally damaged human tissue.

As Brenda looked back at him, she wanted to cry.

"It's a lifelong condition, Gadget. I'm so very sorry, but that's what has happened to you. You'll be facing a lot of surgery and not all of it will be successful and you will _never_ regain the degree of mobility you had before exposure to the second EMP blast. You have a condition know as Electro Magnetic Damage Syndrome, or EMDS. And in a cyborg with a body as heavily modified as you, it means you will be disabled with regard to your mobility in varying degrees, for the rest of your life. Some day there may be a cure but as things stand now, that's all I can tell you."

Gadget fell silent as tears ran down his face.

Brenda was still talking; he struggled to listen to her as he thought of how his life had been destroyed by that risk he had taken to outwit Claw one last time...

"It's not _all_ bad news," she reminded him," the shield system we implanted worked well – your internal organs are unharmed, and thankfully the wire at the back of your brain that links to the electronic function was also just within the range of the shields, so it didn't crack or burn out. Your affected wires are the ones that run from your human connections into your arms and legs, you do have a few small wires damaged in your spine but the main damage will affect your limbs. Do you understand everything I've explained? Do you have any questions?"

Gadget felt numb as he looked back at Brenda. It wasn't numbness caused by his damaged wires, it was simply shock on hearing all she had just said.

"So...I can't go back to work for a while?"

As he asked that question it struck him as ironic to think that he had been so set on retiring; now he knew it was likely his condition was force him to leave his job, he suddenly felt resistant to the idea.

Brenda stepped closer to the bed and looked at him with the kind of compassion in her eyes that he had not seen since the day he woke up in a machine body and she had explained that he was now a cyborg.

"Gadget," she said gently, "what's happened to you has left you with a serious condition. It won't limit your life span but it will limit your quality of life as regards your mobility. It's a life long condition. You will not be able to go back to work; your EMDS is too severe."

"And you can't cure it?"

Bess was beside him now.

As she took hold of his hand, he felt less alone and slightly less afraid. There was a look of love in her eyes that told him he didn't need to worry –she loved him, she truly did –and nothing would change her plans, she still wanted to be with him, now and always.

"Not yet,"Bess told him, "but who knows, maybe one day. Until then we have to take care of you and make the most of the good days."

Tears filled Gadget's eyes again.

"What about the bad days?"

"You won't be alone," she promised him.

He was still looking at Bess, feeling an ache turn into a burning pain as Brenda pushed his legs apart and carefully ran her fingertips over a deep bruise.

"Sorry Gadget," she said, "but there's a wire that runs from your inner thigh and it's gone, its burned out and I need to take it out..."

Gadget felt a sting as a scalpel broke human skin and he caught his breath, sweat pouring from his body once more as the pain seemed to set off all the other pains flickering about his body. He leaned hard against the pillow as Bess held his hand.

"This wont take long, it's very close to the surface," Brenda promised him.

There was a shot of pain deep in his upper thigh, and then he heard a snap as metal was cut and Brenda drew out a blackened wire that partly glistened with blood and cybernetic fluids.

Brenda studied the wire and then placed it not a tray before selecting a new, finer, longer wire.

"The burn out was minor and the damage to this particular link was minimal," she said, "surface work like this doesn't require anaesthesia, although it can be painful. But the majority of your damage is in deeper tissue. Those will require surgical procedures to replace every single one. But today I can fit the new wire in your leg because its a surface wire. That's a lot easier."

Gadget weakly looked down and saw blood running from the small incision in his thigh.

Then he noticed something else and his eyes grew wider as he spoke up in alarm:

"Why am I covered in bruises?"

Bess ran her hand over his damp hair and gently pressed him back against the pillow.

"Every time you have a wire burn out or crack, you'll get swelling and or bruising over the site, obviously you won't get this in your cybernetic body but this is an indication of how much damage your human body has taken."

Then Gadget caught his breath as a sharp pain stabbed at him once more.

He felt like he was about to pass out from the suddenness of it, and looked down to see Brenda had attached the new wire.

"I'm going to push the other end through the old flesh connection. It will go deeper, but should pick up the signal okay...just take a deep breath, Gadget- this won't take a minute."

Gadget drew in a frightened breath, the wire stabbed into damaged flesh, punctured it and he yelled out in pain.

Brenda pushed the back of the wire deep into the flesh, pulled the wound together and hit it with a blast of something cold that made his skin go numb.

"So my leg's fixed?" he said weakly.

Bess shook her head.

"That was just _one_ surface wire. You have many more. And many more deeper wires too. _This was just one of more than four hundred problems that need fixing, Gadget._"

He gave a brief whimper of pain as he felt a short, sharp tugging sensation that was starting to hurt below the first layer of skin; Brenda was quickly stitching the wound closed.

"Let's get that covered for you, "she said, and quickly dressed the wound. Then she grabbed a sheet and pulled it up between his legs, covering the plate on his groin.

"You can rest here for a while," she told him, "then Bess will have you transferred to a room just down the corridor. You have to stay here for a while so we can assess how the damage is affecting you. That means we can't take any chances, you need to be closely monitored and you have to stay in bed. You're going to have the tubes and the monitors again and I know you hate it, but its only for a short time, okay? As soon as you're feeling stronger and we have your pain under control, Bess can take you home."

Gadget wanted to cry again, but instead he just nodded.

"Thanks," he said quietly, "At least I now I'm getting out of here soon."

And he closed his eyes as exhaustion took over. Someone draped a blanket over him, covering him up to his shoulders, and he worked out who that someone was as Bess stroked his hair and said that she was sending Penny in to come and sit with him for a while.

Gadget was too weak and tired to respond. Pain still flickered about his body as he fell into an exhausted sleep.

"I'll go and get the equipment ready in his room," Brenda said, and she left the lab.

Bess leaned over Gadget and gently kissed his cheek, but he was deeply asleep and even her kiss didn't cause him to stir.

"Don't worry," she whispered, "I still love you, Gadget, I'll take care of you. We're still going to have a happy life together, I won't let this get in the way of it, I promise you."

And then she left the the lab.

* * *

Penny was waiting outside.

"Your Uncles sleeping," Bess said quietly, "He's taken a lot of damage and it's going to mean years of wire replacement and with the nerve damage too it's obviously going to give him a lot of problems. But we can talk about that later. Right now Gadget needs you. Just sit with him, you can stay as long as you like. He's being moved to his own room soon."

"I just want to help him," Penny said, feeling as scared and alone as that awful day so many years before when she had found out her Uncle John's car had been blown up.

"I know you do," Bess replied, "we all want to help – and he's going to need a lot of support to cope with this."

Penny just nodded, and then she went into the lab to sit beside her Uncle.

As Taylor made a move to follow, Emma grabbed his arm.

"No Taylor," she said, "We should wait, he's too weak. He just needs Penny."

"But I want to see him!" Taylor said urgently, and he blinked away tears adding, "He's _my_ friend too!"

"You can see him later," Bess promised him,"when he's feeling stronger. The first thing we have to do is let him rest and get the pain under control, and then tomorrow, repair any damage that's ready to be cut out now and replace the lost wiring with new micro fine wires that will hopefully make contact with what's left of the nerve endings. But its not looking good."

Taylor recalled how he had warned her not to let Gadget put his body at risk before the connections were healed, and his eyes filled with tears again.

"_This is the way he's going to be for the rest of his life."_

"But we can repair and replace each wire as it dies and hope he regains some of his lost mobility," Bess replied, "in time, maybe with some research, there might be a cure but until then, that's the best we can do for him."

And Taylor thought about it.

His tears dried up as hope shone in his eyes.

"Maybe there _is _more we can do!" he exclaimed,"I'm opening up a private cybernetics center where the old Riverton General used to be –"

"Taylor!" Bess said in disbelief,"How could you? It's right across the street; you'll be in competition with us!"

"No," Taylor explained as he smiled brightly, "There's no competition – I'm treating people for free, the ones who can't afford to come here. But I need staff. I know Brenda is committed to this place, but you haven't been here long. I need a good cybernetic surgeon and I'd pay you well. There's a house attached to the grounds, its got a clinic alongside it, you and Gadget could have the house. You could get your research done, treat him close to home, it would make his life a lot easier. What do you say? Are you in?"

Taylor looked intently at her.

Bess felt as if her mind was spinning with all this new information.

"It's a good idea," Taylor added," and it would be perfect for Gadget, he's going to need a lot of treatment, maybe forever. If you take this job you can treat him and he doesn't even have to leave home. _Please say yes_."

Bess stared at him, thinking on all he had said.

She hadn't planned to make such changes, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense:

_And most of all, it would be good for Gadget._

Bess slowly nodded, and hoped she was making the right decision.

"I'll do it," she agreed.

Taylor happily shook her hand, but Bess remained lost in her own thoughts as she wondered about a future that was so altered now, all she could do was stand by him and hope that she had made the right choice to try and make his life a little more bearable:

_The effect of the weapon had devastated Gadgets body, his life would never be the same again, so anything that offered the chance of making his life a little easier was worth a try, because Bess knew there was little else she could do to try and help the man she loved..._


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

_The weeks passed._

Claw was alone in his cell.

The room was small and the barred window gave a view of nothing but a high brick wall outside and a small glimpse of sky.

He sat at a table below the window while sunlight that shone through seemed to taunt him, serving a reminder of the fact that he was trapped.

Claw turned his gaze to the newspaper he had just unfolded.

His only real comfort while being in jail were the pictures of Agnes and his son, which he kept in his pocket at all times - and the newspaper that was delivered once a week, not something he considered a luxury (although his cell was more luxurious than most, because he was Claw and many wannabe minions were keen to shower him with gifts), but the paper kept him in touch with the word outside.

He wasn't sure why he needed to read about a place he was separated from, but he knew he had developed a strange need to scour the articles for news on Inspector Gadget...

He also wasn't entirely sure _why_ he wanted to know the latest on Riverton's greatest crime fighter because the man had been his sworn enemy, but as he turned the page and saw an article on Gadget he stared at his picture, still unsure why he felt so compelled to know more.

Gadget had been in and out of the cybernetics center for more than a month, at first the reports had said he was seriously ill, and then later had run a story saying the Inspector was recovering, and after there had been little else said.

But now he was looking at an article that told a very revealing story and exposed the truth of the matter:

As he read it, Claw felt mildly disturbed that he was feeling such a need to know about this man. They had after all been sworn enemies, yet at the same time, he had started to feel as if a gap would have opened up in his life if Gadget had died.

Claw took in the article, it explained how exposure to the EMP device had left him with a condition called EMDS, and this was the reason why the Inspector had to retire early from the force. Claw read the details of the burnt and damaged wiring and cauterized nerve endings and how his fiancée Dr Bess Nightingale was planning to open up a research program, which would be run partly from the soon to be opened Braydon Cybernetics Hospital and Riverton's own cybernetics center, in order to find a cure. Gadget talked about how Bess had discovered a way to use wiring that ran on the outside of his body to divert power to his paralysed arm, and said that it was partially successful. He read about how Gadget talked of being determined to cope with his condition and live his life and be around to see Penny get married one day and hear her children call him _Uncle Gadget._

Claw was sure that the sudden, unwanted wave of emotion that swept over him was purely because Gadget had mentioned children, and that made him think of Agnes and his lost son, he was sure that was all it could be; _there could be no other reason why he would feel this way when reading about Gadget..._

He broke off from the article and looked at the photograph that showed his old enemy sitting at home in a comfortable chair, his shirt was partly open and Claw noticed a wire running from beneath a microchip that ran up to somewhere near his shoulder.

Gadget's sleeves were rolled up and he noticed another wire, this one seemed to plug directly into his flesh.

He turned back to the article and read on:

Gadget talked about how his condition was unpredictable, of how he faced painful treatments to counteract the failing wiring that was buried deep in damaged flesh. He had endured chemical and surgical treatments, had tiny holes drilled through metal and bone, he described every day of his life as painful but worth it, because he was determined to survive.

The article ended with Gadget saying again that he wanted to see the day when he could hug Penny's children and hear them call him Uncle Gadget.

_Claw's gaze shifted to Gadget's picture again._

It suddenly occurred to him that he saw pain in his eyes, and as the thought hit him, Claw's own eyes stung with tears, it confused and angered him as he shut the paper and thought about hurling it across his cell, but then he stopped, thinking of the pictures he carried in his pocket of his dead family, and he strangely concluded he had something in common with Gadget:

The Inspector wanted to keep going despite his pain because he wanted to hear Penny's children call him _Uncle Gadget._

Claw had never stopped imagining what it would have been like to hear his own son call him _Daddy._

_But his chance was gone._

Claw left the newspaper on the table and lay back on his bed, missing his pincer because a stump at the end of his wrist could not smash a hole in a wall the way his steel claw could have done so, and at that moment, he _wanted_ to smash something.

But instead he just lay back on his bed in his cell and silently wept, thinking of Gadget's need to have a future, the same way he had needed to have a future with his own family.

_He wondered if being back in jail was driving him insane, as he recalled the moment he tossed a cigar into a pool of gasoline and blew up John Brown._

_Then he thought of the flick of a switch that had left Gadget with such damage to his cyborg body._

Something deep and painful was welling up inside him and he didn't know what it was, but he knew it hurt.

Claw took in a sharp breath as he tried to block out the thoughts that tormented him, but he could only block thoughts of his own deeds for so long... _he felt haunted, but he didn't know why._

* * *

As the morning sun rose over Riverton, Bess leaned over the man she loved and gave him a soft kiss.

"Gadget," she said gently, "wake up, honey..."

He slowly opened his eyes and smiled up at Bess.

"How do you feel?" she asked him.

Gadget cautiously shifted position, and then sat up in bed.

"I feel pretty good today."

"Everything's working?"

He glanced down at his bare chest, saw the wire that ran from deep inside his connections and ran up to his shoulder, then he slowly moved his formerly paralyzed arm and took in the sight of the other wire that ran around it.

"I think so."

Then he reached up to embrace Bess and his weaker arm barely reached her shoulder as he kissed her again.

"I'm sorry it's not perfect," she said.

"At least I can move it," he replied.

"Some day Ill find a cure for you," she promised him.

Gadget made a move to get out of bed and Bess put her arm around him, helping him to stand.

"As long as I can keep going, that's good enough for me," he told her.

Thoughts of what the day would bring had started to come back to him and the light faded from his eyes.

"I'm looking forward to moving into the house behind Taylor's new hospital, I hate going over to the cybernetics center on days like this."

"I know you don't want to go."

Gadget looked apologetically at Bess.

"I do appreciate everything Brenda's trying to do for me, and you too – but I hate having this –" Gadget indicated to the wire on his arm," I hate having it taken out, it hurts."

"But you can't keep it there for more than three weeks without a break, its diverting your own flow of power, it was never meant to be a permanent solution," Bess said, "it's just to give you some movement back because the replacement wiring failed."

Gadget gave a sigh.

"I suppose you'd better help me get ready to go."

"Do you want a shower?"

Gadget's eyes sparkled playfully.

"Only if you come with me!"

Bess smiled too.

"But I'm dressed."

_"So get undressed!"_

He reached out with his stronger arm and pulled her close, feeling thankful the shield system had protected the sensors on his groin as much as it had protected his internal organs; at least he could still enjoy making love with Bess...

"Okay Gadget," she said," I'll jump in the shower with you."

Gadget smiled as she led him towards the bathroom.

"I knew you couldn't resist the chance to get under the water with me."

"How's your leg feeling?" she asked him, remembering the latest problem to develop had been main wiring in his right leg that had started to fail.

"I'll be okay," he said, "it's not giving me much trouble today."

And then she led him into the bathroom, where he grabbed her and pulled her under the water, laughing as she squealed as the warm water soaked her clothes and hair, and then he pulled her close and kissed her and Bess returned his kisses with passion, and for a brief time, Gadget's troubles were forgotten.

* * *

A short while later, as the Gadget Mobile drove towards the cybernetics center, Gadget fell silent as he thought about how he was dreading the moment when Brenda would disconnect the temporary power divert and his arm would go dead once more.

Bess sat back as the warm breeze blew the last of the dampness from her hair, and as the Gadget Mobile spoke up, Gadget couldn't help but feel the need _not_ to share the car's enthusiasm for the start of the day...

"Looks like it's going to be another beautiful morning in Riverton!" the car said.

"It sure does," Bess replied.

She turned her head and saw the look in Gadget's eyes as he sat there deep in thought.

"Hey, stop being sad," she said, reaching over and taking hold of his hand.

Gadget looked at her.

"I'm not sad," he replied,"I was just wishing things could be different for me."

"And one day they will be," she reminded him.

Those words made him smile.

"I'm so glad we met, Bess. You've changed my life."

And as he smiled she saw the light return to his eyes, and suddenly all they faced didn't seem so difficult any more.

As the car pulled up outside the cybernetics center, Taylor Braydon was leaving the building.

He smiled excitedly on seeing Gadget and hurried over to the car.

"My cybernetics hospital opens in a few months," he said excitedly, "I was just talking to Dr Bradford about my plans for the place."

And then he looked at Bess.

"It's so good to have you on board, you'll never regret this!"

Bess was about to reply, but Taylor's gaze shifted from her and up into the sky as his smile grew wider and his eyes sparkled.

"Wow!" he said, jumping up and down and pointing at the brightly colored object high up in the blue sky, "A hot air balloon! I _love_ those things!" and then he looked back at Gadget and Brenda.

_"I want one!"_ he stated, and carried on smiling.

Bess turned to Gadget and they exchanged a secret smile, both thinking the same thing:

_This guy was seriously going to be her new boss?_

The car phone rang and Gadget picked it up.

"Hi Penny," he said, and Bess tapped her watch reminding him he had an appointment with Brenda.

"No, I've just got here," Gadget told his niece, "I'm just about to go in and get those wires taken out."

He listened as Penny fell silent for a moment.

"But you'll be okay?"

She sounded worried. Penny was always worried when he had an appointment at the lab.

"Yes, I'll be fine. Nothing scares me, I'm used to all this! "and he laughed, adding, "Even Claw couldn't scare me now – although I doubt anything scares him. Let's just hope he never breaks out again."

"Actually there _is one_ guy he's scared of," Penny recalled, "when he had me trapped in the underground hideout, he got a call from some guy and he actually looked terrified. His face went white as a ghost."

Although Gadget was now officially off duty indefinitely, what she had said caught his interest in the way a detective noticed something worth uncovering. He still had the instinct for it and he knew it...

"Claw was scared of him? What was his name?"

Penny thought for a moment.

"Riley. _Riley Hammerstone_."

Gadget thought of all the names of Riverton's most notorious and he shook his head.

"Riley Hammerstone? I've never heard of the guy."

Taylor's eyes grew wider as he stared at Gadget.

Bess was reminding him they had to go, because he had an appointment to keep, and then Gadget told Penny he would call her later, and put the phone down.

Then Bess got out of the car and helped Gadget from the driver's seat.

Taylor spoke up again.

"How did you know Riley?"

Now Gadget was becoming very interested.

"I don't. Penny said he was the one guy Claw's afraid of. I've never heard of him."

Taylor frowned.

"How did she hear about him?"

"When Claw had her held captive. She said he phoned Claw - and Claw was terrified."

"But he's dead," Taylor said, "Riley Hammerstone died five years ago. My old man did business with his old man, that's how I knew of the family. I didn't know Riley, but we went to the memorial service. They never found his body, he took his own life."

Then Taylor became utterly confused.

"But that was _five years ago_, how can the guy be alive and calling Claw? He died, they never found the body but he left a suicide note..."

Gadget leaned against the door of the Gadget Mobile and looked intently at Taylor.

"This was five years ago?"

Taylor nodded.

"It was really sad. He was in a motorcycle accident. The gasoline tank blew up and he got terrible burns. I guess he couldn't live with it. He was only fifteen years old."

"Gadget, we have to go and see Brenda," Bess reminded him.

Taylor still looked confused.

"How can he call Claw if he's been dead five years?"

Bess was reminding him about the appointment again.

"It must have been a different Riley," he said, "I have to go, Taylor."

And he walked with Bess into the cybernetics center, still thinking on all Taylor had said, because he knew from his years of experience as a cop that his instinct was telling him there could be more to the story of Riley Hammerstone...

* * *

As soon as Gadget reached the lab, Brenda was ready for him.

He looked at the chair in the middle of the room and felt a flicker of apprehension as Bess helped him to take off his coat and then unbuttoned his shirt. As she helped him take it off he looked into her eyes and spoke quietly, so that Brenda didn't hear what he wanted to say:

_"I'm really starting to dread coming in here. I take one look at that chair and –"_

She gently put her hand on his shoulder as she leaned closer.

"It won't take long," she reminded him, "let's get this over with."

Gadget nodded, and then he went over to the chair in the middle of the room and sat down, taking in a deep breath as he thought about everything he had endured in this seat: _minor surgery, wires shoved into his body, holes drilled into bone..._

"Are you okay?" Brenda asked him.

"Not really," Gadget replied, trying in vain to relax as she reached for the wire that was buried in his chest below his third microchip.

"I'm just going to pull it gently and it will come out," she told him.

Gadget shut his eyes and as his body grew tense he felt Bess holding his hand. Her touch made the whole process a little easier, but as the wire was pulled free he have a gasp as a sharp pain shot through the broken connection.

"What's happening, Gadget?" Brenda asked as she wound the wire away from his body, and then releasing the second connection.

Pain shot through him again and then it faded.

"My shoulder's gone weak," he replied.

Brenda was disconnecting the wire that ran around his arm.

He closed his eyes again and waited for the pain, but the second disconnection was a little easier.

"And now I can't feel my arm," he replied.

Brenda wrapped the wires up and looked at him kindly.

"And that's supposed to happen when I take your power off divert, you can come back and have it refitted in a couple of weeks."

"Can I go now?" Gadget said hopefully.

"I just wanted to ask if your leg is still the same, or is walking becoming more difficult? I can scan you to see if the wires got any closer to dying off – as soon as it's gone I can replace it and you'll get some of your mobility back."

"Until the next wire fails," Gadget told her, "I'm sorry, Brenda, I just don't want to do this today. And my leg is more or less working, thank you - as long as I can stand and walk I'm okay."

"You haven't got any bruising or swelling a round the site of the dying wire?"

Gadget shook his head.

Bess was helping him to put his shirt back on. As she started to button it up he gave a sigh.

"I'm going to miss having two functioning arms for the next two weeks."

"And you'll get partial use back when we put the divert back on," Brenda reminded him, "and who knows, maybe soon we'll have a breakthrough and find a cure for all of this."

"_Or maybe not,"_ Gadget said.

Brenda was starting to put Gadget's paralyzed arm in a sling.

He felt a little better knowing he was getting ready to leave; putting his clothing back on reassured him there would be no more painful procedures to go through today.

"I was talking with a colleague of mine," Brenda told him as she finished placing his arm in the sling, "about the possibility of human tissue and nerve transplant to solve the problem. It would involve taking donor tissue and using it to replace your human scar tissue. We wouldn't need to strip the donor of all vital nerves, just a few at key points and then distribute enough around your body to enable the new wiring to work efficiently. "

Then Brenda avoided looking at both of them for a moment, because she knew she would see hope in Gadget's eyes and she didn't want to make promises she couldn't keep.

_"I've been looking into this possibility for a while,"_ she added, and she finally looked back at Gadget.

"Don't hope for this and think of it as definite. The donor would have to be willing to have their own body repaired with internal cybernetic connections and their recovery time would be painful. But for you, it would be _much_ faster and easier because you're a heavily modified cyborg. Also, we would need a live donor for the best results and also a pretty close tissue match. As I said before, it doesn't have to be perfect because you're a cyborg and your body can accept a lot of this, for example after the transplant you wouldn't even need to take anti-rejection medication, but the tissue match would have to match by at least 85% to your own, and that's the difficult part."

Gadget stared at her.

He had stood up now and Bess was helping him put on his coat, but he couldn't take his eyes off Brenda as he thought about what she had just said, and he felt almost afraid to hope for too much.

"You think you can cure me with a transplant? Why does it have to be from a live donor?"

"Well, it would be ideal and certainly the transfer would be easier for you, because we need fresh living tissue to cover the small areas where the scar tissue will be removed from each of the damaged areas, it's a lot of small, _very_ precise procedures, but if we found a compatible live donor there's a very strong chance the transplant could cure you."

"_Test me. I'll be his donor."_

Gadget turned sharply to Bess.

"No, I don't want you to go through that, not you, I love you –"

Determination shone in her eyes as she looked at Brenda.

"Test me, I'm likely to be compatible. I've heard of cases where partners are compatible because of the regular-"

And then she stopped.

Brenda shook her head.

"No, Bess. If Gadget was completely human, I know what you're saying, close couples, a regular sex life...it doesn't apply, he's got –"

"Sensors," Gadget said, "I'm all machine where it matters most so it won't make a difference, Bess."

But she was still determined.

"Test me for a tissue match, Brenda."

Dr Bradford gave a sigh.

"I'll run a search through the data base and see if I can find a match. It doesn't mean the person I find would even have consent to be a donor on their records, but it's worth a shot. I'll do that first, Bess. Then if I don't get a close match and I can't find one on a larger search, I'll start asking for volunteers, okay?"

Bess nodded.

Gadget found his hopes for a cure rising and he didn't want them to rise too sharply because it seemed like too much to hope for. Instead his detective instinct took over as he recalled his discussion with Taylor Braydon and he thought about the severity of Riley Hammerstone's injuries_...severe enough to have needed cybernetic treatment?_

He knew he had to ask a question, even though he was now off duty, in his mind he was still a cop.

"Brenda," he said, "have you ever heard of Riley Hammerstone? He was a young kid who got badly burned five years ago?"

Brenda stared at him.

"There's a name I haven't heard for a long time! How did you know about him?"

Gadget shook his head.

"Long story. I just heard that he's apparently dead, but Penny was sure a guy with the same name made a call to Claw - and she remembers clearly he was scared of the guy."

Brenda fell silent for a moment, and then she crossed the floor of the lab and switched on the computer.

"Riley Hammerstone...I shouldn't be telling you about him, it's classified."

As Gadget and Bess joined her by her desk, Gadget looked at her intently.

"I may not be on the force any more, but I think there's something going on and I need you to pretend I'm still with Riverton PD, Brenda."

Bess felt concerned as she spoke up.

"Gadget, you're supposed to be taking things easy –"

"I know, honey. I just want to ask a few questions."

And he turned back to Brenda. His leg was feeling weak again, so he leaned on the desk.

"Just tell me what you know."

She took a deep breath, deciding there was no reason why she shouldn't share this unofficially with Gadget or Bess.

"Riley was fifteen years old and covered in terrible burns from a motorcycle accident. I heard about him because I was offered a place on the team that were working on the experimental body. It was an android body designed by a defense program, a private company agreed to go ahead and they put him into the prototype body. Everything from the neck down was machine. I refused to be a part of it because I saw pictures of that boy and he was already gone, more or less gone, I thought it wasn't right to make him live like that. I also checked his records and found out he suffered from depression prior to the accident, so I voiced concerns about him being used as a test subject - but that was in the days before psychological profiling was considered necessary when it came to giving patients heavy modifications. They went ahead and did it - _and three months later Riley turned psychotic, smashed his way out of the lab and apparently ended his own life._ They never found the body."

Brenda keyed in a security code and a picture came up on the screen.

"This is the only picture I have," she said, "before his modification...they should have let him go, they should have turned off the machines."

Gadget stared at the image on the screen of a young man on life support. His body was blackened and charred; only his neck and head were unaffected.

Bess looked closer at the screen and gave a gasp as she saw fingers burned down to stubs exposing white bone.

"_They kept him alive?"_

Brenda switched off the screen and shook her head.

"They gave him a whole body transplant into a military android machine. He couldn't handle it."

Then sadness clouded Brenda's eyes.

"_We talk about successful prototypes,"_ she said quietly, _"everyone talks about you, Gadget. But no one mentions Riley Hammerstone. He's the one people want to forget."_

And she caught a look in Gadget's eyes that said although he was no longer a cop, he was still on duty in his mind. He had a look about him that said he wanted to investigate Riley's death.

"But you have to forget I told you that. The case has been closed for years."

Gadget avoided her gaze as he nodded in agreement.

Brenda swiftly changed the subject.

"So I'll get on the huge task of searching for a possible donor, but don't hope for too much in case I draw a blank. Now go home and take things easy, Gadget."

"I'll do that, thanks Brenda." Gadget replied, and he left the lab with Bess at his side, his thoughts caught between hoping for a miracle and wondering if Riley Hammerstone was dead or alive.

* * *

Brenda searched patient records for the rest of the day.

She was still at her desk when dusk had fallen, and as she glanced up at the clock and saw it was almost nine pm she gave a tired sigh.

_Then the computer beeped and the screen switched to a patient profile._

Brenda scanned the initial details and felt her hopes rising:

The DNA match was close. It wasn't perfect, but close enough - Gadget was a cyborg and with some pre operative treatment, would be able to accept the match. The patient had only used the cybernetics center once - to have some wiring removed, but not replaced. The question regarding whether or not the patient would be willing to be a donor had been left blank.

She entered another screen to read more of the patient's details.

And then Brenda stared at the screen in disbelief.

"_No..."_ she said in a hushed voice, knowing instantly Gadget stood no chance of help from this man:

Of all the possible matches on the database, according to records, there was only one.

_That man was Sanford Scolex..._

As the phone rang, Brenda snatched it up, still staring at the face of Claw.

"Hi Brenda," Bess said, "I've got Gadget next to me and he's talking about you and finding a donor and he won't give it rest until I put him on the phone.."

"Okay." Brenda said quietly.

In the background she heard Bess say something playfully to Gadget and he said something back, there was a delay as she heard a kiss exchanged, and then Gadget was on the line.

"I know its getting late but I just wanted to ask if you had any news yet."

Brenda was still looking at the screen, into the cold eyes of Claw.

"No," she said, "not yet, Gadget. I did find someone who was _almost_ match, but I'm going to search other databases, I'm going to ask some other cybernetics centers too. This could take a while, maybe even a few months. I just want to be sure when we find the right donor nothing goes wrong. Please try and be patient, okay?"

Gadget gave a sigh.

"Okay, I'll try. And thanks for all your help, Brenda. I don't say it much, but I do appreciate everything you're doing for me."

"I know. You get some rest now, Gadget," she replied.

As the call ended she looked back at the screen, wondering why fate had to be so cruel:

_Claw would never agree to be Gadget's donor. _

She had to carry on searching until she found someone else, even if it took months...

* * *

As Gadget put down the phone, he settled back against soft pillows and put his arm around Bess.

"She said it could take months."

"I told you that too," Bess replied,"try not to think about it, let's just focus on here and now. I know you have your problems, but we can hang on a little while longer, it's going to be worth the wait."

Gadget felt warmed by the love he saw in her eyes.

"I think you're right," he said.

As she held him closer they rested together in bed as night fell.

Bess was asleep as the sky turned ink-black and stars began to puncture it.

Gadget lay awake looking out at the night sky, wondering about the future and considering the questions he needed answered:

_He didn't know if Brenda would ever find him a donor._

_He didn't know if the damage to his body could ever be completely repaired._

_And the detective in him was still wondering if Riley Hammerstone was alive or dead._

But Bess was warm beside him and as he closed his eyes he left the unanswered questions and thought instead about the things in life he could be sure of:

_He had his family._

_Penny was his family._

_And Bess loved him, too._

And he knew that life was far from perfect, but at least he could live each day with those he loved, and that was enough.

_He had faith in the present._

_The future would have to take care of itself, no matter what happened._

That was all Gadget needed to be sure of, and he carried those thoughts to sleep, where he knew nothing but rest and the unanswered questions hung somewhere at the back of his mind like the stars that shimmered in the night sky, burning far away in distant silence.

The End

**Author Note: ***This story will continue in IG 2013 Fic Series BOOK 2: ABSOLUTION*****


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